This work is an attempt to understand the historical retrospectives of the development of ethnopolitics and ethnopolitical processes in the Siberian Federal District. The author marked three periods in the ethnopolitical history of Siberia - imperial, soviet and modern - and determines their specificity and regularities. It is shown that the appeal to history is the most important value-laden mechanism in the hands of ethnic actors who often mythologize and heroize history, and who manipulate it, mainly, for their own political benefit.