This article analyses the evolution of the ideas of the well - known Russian scholar Viktor Timofeevich Ryazanov, whose life was tragically cut short recently. Viktor Timofeevich left us a substantial legacy, characterised by the great diversity of the questions on which he worked. The study is structured around the main trend of Ryazanov's logic. This was associated with revealing the particular in economics, and also with his ethics, that were applied to creating the conditions for the full development of humanity. It was these themes that determined the specific nature of the advice he provided on reforming the national economy, advice that he worked out on the basis of a profound insight into the essence of economic relationships and the special nature of the archetype of Russian civilisation, of its historical path. The recommendations that Ryazanov drew up also bore on the tasks of reformatting the global economy, and were based on his deep - going research into the processes of globalisation and of post - global regionalisation. His vision of Russia as a special civilisation of the North allowed him to formulate a strategy for its full and successful entry into an economy of the post - market type, researched by Ryazanov at the highest scholarly level. The heritage of Viktor Timofeevich and his contribution to economic science has yet to be assessed at its true worth. The present work suggests one of the possible lines along which such an evaluation might proceed.