The article contains analysis of the meaning and implications of the notion of “transnational citizenship”. The author argues that the “nationalization” of citizenship, which many theoreticians regard as the main defect of this institution, is accounted for by specific nature of the decolonization process that developed in the 20th century and impelled modern states to turn to the search of criteria that would allow to distinguish those who are potentially “of their own” from those potentially “alien”. In the author’s judgment, unique character of the Russian empire’s post-colonial transformation is the basic reason of the difficulties facing the strivings for the institution of Russian citizenship legally to take shape.