The Soviet concept of "friendship of peoples" left political practice along with the collapse of the Soviet Union. The report analyzes the causes of its occurrence and the direction of its practical implementation. The author for the first time considers, using the example of the legislative acts of the USSR, how the instrument of the administrative-territorial division of the country was used by the leadership of the USSR to establish the “friendship of peoples”, how, among other things, thanks to industrial projects, the formation of the Soviet people went on, how the education system served this. Particular attention is paid to the example of the Academy of Social Sciences under the Central Committee of the CPSU (AON under the Central Committee of the CPSU), which arose in 1946. It became an important organization that influenced the career growth of party and Soviet workers. Here, from the very beginning, emphasis was placed on the admission of graduate students and students from different regions and republics of the USSR. Over the years, the team of its teachers also became multinational. The example of the AON under the Central Committee of the CPSU showed the general course of the Soviet state in the field of cohabitation of peoples: creating conditions for close communication between people of different cultures and languages, for them to recognize each other, for joint work, achievement of common goals, mutual understanding. This development did not proceed in isolation from the general processes in the country. As well as outside its walls, the AON survived the campaign of “struggle against cosmopolitanism”, which resulted in the persecution of Jewish professors. At the same time, some Jews, like people of other nationalities, were able to make memorable careers in the Academy staff.