The article establishes the nature of relations between the indices of income differentiation and the level of regional development, on the one hand, and the volumes of transfers allocated to the regions, on the other. The analysis is based on the methodology of the new economic geography, including the use of econometric methods. Presently one can distinguish two priority political directions aiming at reducing the intra- and interregional income differentiation. The latter is particularly important for the Russian regions with medium-size level of the Gross Regional Product, since they clearly feature the agglomeration effect, related to the presence of the rapidly developing center and less developed periphery. The lack of statistically significant impact of the volume of social payments allocated to Russian regions upon the index of income concentration shows the insufficient efficacy of the country's politics. The latter is also proved by the sustainably depressive situation in many regions, which turns into a significant socio-economic problem. The article stresses the necessity to develop new tools of the regional politics of income levelling, which could activate the internal sources of growth in the regions, and which would possess a cumulative effect to establish a real coordination between the principles of social justice and economic efficacy.