Ukrainian nationalism appears in the middle of the XIX century. Russian conservatives do not perceive it as a serious threat. Attitude to this problem has done serious evolution - from ridicule of cranky small group of provincial intellectuals to recognize the imminent prospects of territorial division and the breakdown of historical unity of the Russian people. Editor of "Moscow News", a well-known publicist, M.N. Katkov was the main critic of "ukraynofilstvo" in the second half of the XIX century. Otherwise, but also critical as a whole, perceived this movement M.F. De Pulet, I.S. Aksakov and V.J. Shulgin (founder of newspaper "Kievlyanin"). A major criticism of Ukrainian nationalism was the conservative writers of the period: P.A. Kulakovskiy, L.A. Tikhomirov, M.O. Menshikov, V.M. Purishkevich, D.V. Skrynchenko and D.D. Muretov. In particular positions stood nationalist T.V. Lokot', considered people of Great Russia, Russia Minor and Belorussia as the Russian ethnic groups, not united into a political nation. The most consistent and staunch fighters against the "Ukrainians" was Kiev residents A.I. Savenko and V.V. Shulgin. Despite the rather harsh assessment of the emerging "Ukrainians", representatives of the conservative camp did not allow themselves pejorative judgments at the inhabitants of Russia Minor. Among the Russian conservatives were quite a few people who both believed to be children of the Great Russia and Russia Minor, but they perceived "Ukrainian idea" as a chimera. It was imposed to people by anti-Russian part of the local intelligentsia. Russian conservatives have not seen in the emergence of "Ukrainians" any historical validity. They interpreted this as a political project, aimed at the division of a single nation, and the state territory, favorable to geopolitical rivals of Russia.