The paper has historiographical contents. It outlines the results of the research carried out in the Institute of History of SPSU in 2016-2018. The theme of the research is the government policy towards the eastern outskirts of the Russian Empire during the last decades beforef the collapse of the Russian monarchy. Direct engagement of administrators on the outskirts with the Council of Ministers and Russian society (represented by the State Duma since 1906) was complicated by many factors until 1917. In addition to the unresolved economic and socio-political problems, they included the system of “elective procedure” adopted by the government, limited number of bureaucratic personnel, and lack of experience in law-making work in the Duma.