The article contains the analysis of the impact of governance quality in Russian regions on parameters of regions sustainability. The author concludes that governance quality evaluation based on managerial risk rating by rating agency Expert does not give statistically significant result measured governance quality impact on region sustainability. After that the author argues the necessity of a new approach to governance quality evaluation in a region based on three main aspects: application of contemporary concepts and instruments of governance, accent on system and strategic approach and innovativeness and digitalization. Forming indicators system covered all above mentioned aspects is an important step not only for governance evaluation, but also for recommendations of governance quality improvement as a factor of regional sustainability growth.