The article tackles questions of the content of national-civilizational identity, of its significance for a society working on modernization tasks under the conditions of globalization, of its place in the system of individual's positioning in contemporary Russia. Considering traditional characteristics of Russian mentality, and in the light of the crisis of Soviet identity, particulars of Russians' perception of state and of power are analyzed, as well as discussions raging around the problems of "original way" and of what the attitude towards the West's experience should be; an interpretation of myth is offered, as mechanism of socio-cultural synthesis. As factors conditioning Russians' national-civilizational choice, the author specifies social delimitation, ethno-cultural renascence, and religious self-identification. Special attention is given to mechanisms and forms of realization of identity in contemporary Russian artistic culture. In conclusion, the author raises the problem related to the "negative identity" which has formed under the conditions of the crisis-dominated development and is to be overcome, and to positively oriented identity, to its formation, as the key factor of national-civilizational choice.