These essays give an idea of ​ ​ how and when the first communities of our compatriots took shape in a foreign land how today's Russian-speaking diasporas differ from previous ones. The author does not shy away from controversial and vague questions about the prescription of foreign settlements of Russians, about the durability and dispersion of these peculiar minianclavs around the world. The monograph traces how in different eras there were numerous addresses of the Russian diaspora.