The author traces the evolution of the conceptual foundations of Russia’s migration policy and the features of its implementation at various stages of social, economic and political development of the country. The analysis focuses on the geopolitical specifics of Russia’s migration policy: after the collapse of the USSR, tens of millions of the country’s citizens ended up abroad. Return to the sources of the conceptualization of the Russian migration policy, capture of the underrated factors has a significant practical importance to mainstream and optimize it nowadays. Contradictory tendencies in the development of migration processes, unrealized opportunities, mistakes and miscalculations made in the first post-Soviet years are revealed; all the positive things that have been brought into the migration sphere over three decades are noted. The author identifies several stages that have their peculiarities that characterize the dynamics of changes and the evolution of the conceptual approaches of the state to this very complex and multi-layered problem. And at each stage there is a difficult search for answers to unresolved old and new questions that life poses to Russia with its contradictions, illogisms, and paradoxes. The author concludes that the coronavirus pandemic, which caused global social and economic upheavals in the world, will become a force majeure test for Russia’s migration policy.