The article is devoted to the study of the main institutionalized and informal practices of representation of national interests in the political process of modern Russia. By analyzing the process of aggregation of interests of the Bashkir ethnic group, studying the main forms and activities of Bashkir national and cultural organizations, as well as the channels of lobbying the interests of the Republican political elite at the federal level, the authors conclude that there is a serious dissonance between the official discourse and the real mechanisms of representation of national interests. The process of politicization of “ethnicity”, which began in the 90s of the last century, led to the transformation of the national factor into a serious tool for building relations within the “center – regions” system, as well as to the replacement of the interests of ethnic groups with the economic and political interests of regional national elites. This circumstance, in its turn, leads to the priority of non-institutionalized forms of representation of national interests in the political process.