LEGAL ASPECTS OF CONFESSIONAL POLICY IN RELATION TO SIBERIA PEOPLES AT THE END OF THE XVI <sup>TH</sup> – THE BEGINNING OF THE XVIII <sup>TH</sup> CENTURY
The main normative-legal acts that determined the Russian authorities’ confessional policy principles in relation to Siberia native peoples at the stage of their annexation to Russia are considered from new positions. The attempt to ascertain the interconnection of the political-legal aspects of the Christianization of local adherents of different faith in Volga region and Siberia is undertaken for the first time. The peculiarities of the Christianization of the XVI <sup>th</sup>-XVII <sup>th</sup> centuries are explained by the neo-natal empire political culture and practice specificity.