The specifics and peculiarities of the confessional policy of the Russian Empire in Ossetia in the late XVIII – first half of the XIX centuries

This article is devoted to the study of the characteristic features of the confessional policy of the Russian administration of the North Caucasus on the territory of Ossetia in the late XVIII and the first half of the XIX centuries. The study analyzes the specifi cs of the spread of the Islamic religion in the Ossetian environment, the complex of external factors that contributed to this process, as well as the nature of interaction between Muslim and Christian Alan communities. In this paper, the features of the policy of the Russian authorities in relation to the Islamic and Orthodox communities of Ossetia are investigated. Moreover, the research disclose the role of the personal factor expressed in the various approaches of the governors of the North Caucasus such as A.P. Ermolov and M.S. Vorontsov to the scientifi c problem under consideration.