Tarkhanova Zh. D.

Introduction. The article analyzes destructive processes that threaten the national security of the Russian Federation and domestic political stability in the context of the expansion of non-regional players in the South Caucasus. The urgency of the problem is determined by the threats and risks that have arisen that can affect the stability of interethnic relations and the unity of the peoples of Russia. Purpose. Identification and analysis of factors and trends that pose threats and risks to national security and stability, and interethnic harmony in the Russian Federation. Materials and methods. In the study, the authors used documents from government authorities of the Russian Federation and the South Caucasus states; official statements from heads of state; and scientific research related to the regional issues under consideration. The materials of the regional media are considered as sources allowing to reconstruct the course of historical processes in the South Caucasus in the post-bipolar period. The article uses a historical and comparative research method, as well as analysis, synthesis, generalization and comparison. Results and conclusions. The role and influence of non-regional players on the South Caucasian states is regarded as a consistent and long-term anti-Russian strategy to implement the foreign policy vector of the NATO countries, aimed at forming disintegration processes with Russia, provoking ethnic strife and interfaith intolerance. Regional stability, transformed under the influence of a new stage of escalation of military-political conflicts in the South Caucasus, which occurred in the first quarter of the XXI century. – The five-day war in South Ossetia in 2008 and the defrosting of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in 2016-2023 have become a serious challenge to Russia's national interests. Territorial disputes and ethnopolitical conflicts between the post-Soviet republics of the South Caucasus, which are projected into the Russian North Caucasus through numerous South Caucasian diasporas and migration flows, remain a key factor in destabilization. The foreign policy of the elites of the South Caucasus states, which have revised relations with Moscow, translates relevant ideological attitudes and narratives to diasporas, and influences the interethnic and interfaith unity of the peoples of the Russian Federation. The authors conclude that these issues are relevant and that it is important to study such trends and processes in order to preserve regional stability and strengthen civil and national unity in the Russian Federation. The combination of these risks and threats is considered as a serious challenge to the territorial integrity and interethnic unity of the peoples of Russia. Timely response – Russian President Vladimir Putin declared 2026 the Year of Unity of the Peoples of Russia, and the state national policy of the Russian Federation has been updated.