The article treats the topic of teaching ethno-political science, problems of its status and content. The author proves that ethno-political science knowledge needs to be spread among the members of the educated community who in their professional activity deal with multiethnic reality – Russian or foreign. The article points to the impossibility of applying the Soviet nations and national relationships theory to the current conditions, as well as to the impossibility of automatic «transference» of the «West» conceptions to the ground of Russian political practice. Special attention is paid to particularities of the subject of ethno-political science, to its links with other sciences. The author also reveals specific features of Russian ethno-political science: immanent indistinctness of discourse, imperfection of the category apparatus. All this, as well as the lack of relative agreement among scholars has controversial consequences for ethno-political science and practice.