The increasing tension of current international situation, caused by geopolitical changes and the Middle East crisis affecting Russia brings up the issue of prisonersof- war confinement in the world diplomatic unions interaction environment. This, in turn, determines the significance of the research topic in the run-up to the centennial of the beginning of World War I, which affected all layers of Russian society, and became a powerful catalyst for political processes, changing the lives of millions of people. Conditions faced by many countries including Russia during World War I did not only contributed to the development of new international legal instruments, but also addressed the critical legal, economic and social issues related to prisoners of war. Taking into consideration the established norms of international and Russian law, this article examines their implementation at the regional level in the context of war. The issues of accommodation, meals, safety, conditions of confinement of the Austro- Hungarian prisoners of war on the territory of Eastern Siberia were severe enough, which is fully revealed by the author in this article.