One can definitely say that as far back as Soviet times and up to the present day the leading scholars of post-Soviet scope (ethnographers, historians and other) treat differently an essence and content of ethnic communities. It is, in particular, referred to such notions as «tribe», «ethnos», and «people». At the same time a definite disagreement is still observed among the specialists on the issue of typology. Taking into consideration this circumstance the present article carries out work on a new classification of the main ethnic communities.
