The article analyzes the Russian higher education system as an essential part of the “soft power” of Russia’s foreign policy. A comparison is made of the youth potential contingents in the CIS countries in the context of demographic aging. The role of Rossotrudnichestvo in the policy of the Russian language spreading in the post-Soviet space is considered. The authors conclude that Russia is interested in attracting foreign youth to Russian universities and claim the lack of an adequate state policy; they suggest measures to radically change the situation with foreign students’ education in Russian universities.

The article analyzes “soft power” as an instrument for implementing foreign policy strategy in modern conditions; a comparative analysis of the impact of the “soft power” components on the electorate is made; the author analyzes opposite directions of the goal-setting vectors of “soft power” in conditions of total globalization and transition to multipolarity; it is stated that polycentrism determines the self-identification of societies and realization of national interests, the existence and development of historical, linguistic, traditional cultural and ethnic characteristics of nations and peoples, as well as the role of the state as an institution, maintaining social justice, which gives a definite specificity to the mechanism of implementing the “soft power” policy; the article also reflects the increasing role of information space in the context of globalization.