This article endeavors to detect the goals, main tracks and priorities of the Russian diplomacy in a vilayet of the Ottoman Empire — Hejaz, which hosted major Islamic sanctuaries. Religion and politics were tightly interwoven in Russia’s diplomatic activities there. Our analysis is made at the micro level, through the official correspondence of a Russian diplomat, Michail Nikolsky, who in the early 20th century served as a secretary of the Russian Imperial Consulate in Jeddah, Hejaz.