The author tells about five projects aimed at founding Russian archaeological institutes in Istanbul (Constantinople), Athens, Rome, Jerusalem and world’s greatest capitals in the late 18th – early 20th century. She shows that of all those projects initiated by Russian scholars, diplomats and politicians only one was realized, namely the Russian Archaeological Institute in Constantinople which existed in 1894–1914 and greatly contributed to the study of ancient and Christian history on the Balkan Peninsula and in Asia Minor. WWI and the Bolshevist revolution put an end to this institute and frustrated the projects concerning the foundation of similar institutes in Athens, Rome and Jerusalem. In the author’s opinion, the project to create a network of research institutions abroad put forward by the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1919 could only be unrealistic under the circumstances.