The author analyzes the symbolic strategies of settling the conflict known as Russian coal miners' rails war (Donbas, May 1998), with the concept of ritualization of conflicts used as the guide. With materials of those events examined, the author shows the possible way of diminishing the tension of a conflict with resort to the means of symbolic staging. The researcher analyzes significance of role exchange in the dramatic art of face-to-face intercourse, with the authority asymmetry of the conflicting parties retained. He stresses in conclusion that ritualization of a conflict does not mean its solution and does not relieve its participants of the need for objective analysis of the conflict situation.