The article develops the concept of national interests as the main guideline for Russia’s foreign policy. With reference to the classics of political realism, H. Morgenthau, E. Carr, R. Aaron, it is stated that national interests arise not from abstractions, but from the specific position of the country in the system of international relations, its geography, history, institutions and value-normative guidelines, representing nothing more than long-term vital expressions of the community of the nation in the conditions of an anarchic international system. Further, the modern American experience in determining national interests is examined, including reference to the US National Security Strategy of December 2025. Russian approaches are analyzed through historical dynamics: from the change of ideological foundations to modern strategic planning documents – the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation (2021) and the Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation (2022). The author his own systematic classification of Russia’s fundamental national interests in the form of a stable hierarchical structure, on the basis of which it is possible to deploy a system of essential, auxiliary and peripheral interests and which, thus, can serve as the basis for strategic goal-setting in the field of foreign policy and national security.