Abstract: The article analyzes the dynamic characteristics of the concept of the "Russian world" based on a series of sociological studies of student consciousness in the South of Russia (2015–2021) conducted by the staff of the Southern Federal University. The actualization of this concept in student consciousness occurred against the backdrop of the Ukrainian crisis of 2014 and underwent a certain transformation from 2015 to 2021. The methodological basis of the study was a series of focus groups and a questionnaire survey. In the process of analyzing the data collected by means of the questionnaire survey, factor, correlation and regression types of statistical analysis were used. As a result, the specifics of the decontestation of the concept of the "Russian world" in student consciousness were established, as well as a change in the conceptual framework for interpreting this concept. In particular, it was found that in 2015, the decontestation of the concept of the "Russian world" in the structure of values ​​of student consciousness occurred in the right ideological spectrum (up to right-wing radical interpretations), but in 2019, this concept is more often placed in the cultural and civilizational context in the structures of student identity. Key factors influencing the process of decontestation of the concept of the "Russian world" were also identified. The general conclusion based on the results of the study is that despite the fact that these variables substantively intersect with the three meanings of the concept of the "Russian world" presented in the media space of modern Russia (imperial-civilizational, super-ethnic and Orthodox-civilizational), the shifts occurring in student consciousness indicate deeper changes - about the increasing rootedness of the concept under study in the structures of student identity, and not just at the superficial level of ideological attitudes.