The aim of the work is to determine the attitude of conservative and liberal figures to the national question in the empire at the turn of the century. The difference in ideas on this issue marked the beginning of the demarcation within the right-liberal groups into supporters of autocracy or constitutional monarchy. Using the problem-chronological method, we established the main lines of demarcation on the national question. The ideological leader of the conservative liberals – B.N. Chicherin spoke from the position of the priority of the rights of national minorities, his opponent N.K. Rennenkampf, on the contrary, believed that the shortcomings of national groups determined their subordinate position in the empire. D.A. Milyutin, who tried to “return” Chicherin to the sphere of real politics, met resistance from the latter. For Chicherin, the primacy of human rights was higher than the interests of the state. He energetically protested against the suppression of the rights of the Jewish and Polish peoples. The contradiction between the two moderate liberals became the prologue to the split of their supporters in 1906. The dispute between the three figures is important for understanding how different political groups defined their attitude to the national question on the eve of the first Russian revolution. Thus, this division, initiated by Chicherin, marked the beginning of the final division of right-wing and liberal politicians into conservatives, conservative liberals and liberal conservatives. The future Black Hundreds, legalists (progressives) and Octobrists. The subject of further research could be the study of the division of moderate politicians on such grounds as human rights, the limits of imperial power, etc.