The article analyzes the role and place of the ethnoconfessional factor in the geopolitics of Russia and the countries of the Black Sea-Caspian region. It is proved that the inseparability of ethnic and confessional principles is associated with the traditionalist, not theological Islam. However, these types of factors (ethnic and confessional) are in multidimensional interdependence, the parameters of which change quite quickly, which determines the hierarchy, the degree of significance and even the content of these factors themselves. Excessive emphasis exclusively on the religious component leads to religious and political extremism (radical Islamism), and on the ethnic one – to ethno-nationalism. The interaction of confessional and ethnic factors, its transformation into an ethno-confessional factor is objective and comprehensive.
geopolitics; geopolitical processes; Russia; Islam; Islamism; Black Sea-Caspian region; ethno-confessional factor.