Crises of various natures, including those provoked by situations of social tension, have a serious potential to cause reputational damage to public authorities and significantly reduce their legitimacy. The article studies key principles of effective public authorities’ communication in crises of different nature, including situations of social tension. Basic characteristics of the crisis in public administration sphere are specified. Also an uniquely designed crisis types classification for public authorities on the ground of T. Coombs organizational crises typology is proposed. In terms of upto-date academic literature concerning discussed problem the generalized model of public authorities’ crisis communication during situations of social tension with low and high attribution of responsibility is also introduced. The model integrates Smith’s approach to the process of crisis management and Coombs overall model of crisis reaction. The set of appropriate crisis communication strategies for each variant is proposed. These strategies provide an opportunity to decline the level of social tension and to harmonize the relationship between government and society. These theoretical constructions can be used by crisis managers and representatives of public authorities for effective crisis management. The generalized model of crisis communications of representatives of the official authorities, presented in the article, demonstrates a phased process of transmitting information of various types in accordance with the phases of the crisis.