The article retraces the close interconnection that exists between the Russians’ civil and political identity, on the one hand, and the level of consolidation of the Russian state – on the other. Among the factors having the definitive influence on the state of the identity and on the character of the Russian statehood, special attention is given to the specific features of the existing power relations. As the author aspires to demonstrate (and to prove), it is just the hierarchical character of these relations and their undemocratic essence that are the main factor of the growth of those risks and dangers which threaten the efficiency and integrity of the Russian state.