The article analyses the peculiarities of the ethnic and confessional policy, carried out by the local authorities taking into account the unique multi-confessional specificity of Russian Astrakhan, in the conditions of the nationwide support of Orthodoxy and restrictions on the activities of other confessions. As an example examines some historical aspects of the formation of Catholicism and Orthodoxy in the Astrakhan region. Partially addresses the issues of transformation of the national religious policy, initiated by Catherine II.
