This article examines five historical portraits - Russian princes Alexander Nevsky and his father Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, the Mongol great Khan Ogedei, who announced the beginning of the campaign to the West, the leader of the Mongol troops Batu and one of the most prominent Mongol military leaders Mengu - in book miniatures. Based on the analysis of ancient Russian, Western European, Persian and Chinese book miniatures, it is attemped to reconstruct the image of contemporaries of the Mongol invasion of Russia in the eyes of descendants, compared the systems of identification “friend and foe” in relation to the main participants in the military conflict between Russia and the Mongol Empire.