The article introduces into the Russian discourse the key elements of securitization theory, one of the ways of conceptualizing security which is most popular in contemporary literature on political and international theory. Using as the starting point the understanding of security by the theorists of securitization as a discursive political practice, this study analyses some consequences of this approach for our understanding of political issues. First and foremost, the article focuses on the contradictions between security and democratic politics, on the one hand, and security and politicization, on the other hand.