Abstract. Natural disasters and catastrophes are one of the major threats to national security of the Russian Federation. Their negative influence on Russian population, economy, territories and ecosystems has increased manifold lately and is manifested practically in all regions, causing enormous damage to all economic sectors and leading to human losses. The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, it is the development of society and economy itself, the rapid growth of population, unprecedented environmental pollution, anthropogenically induced activation of dangerous natural processes, withdrawal of non-renewable or long-lasting renewable natural resources. Secondly, there are abrupt natural changes in the climate and natural environment, an increase in average annual air temperature, changes in air mass circulation, which are associated with the melting of glaciers and degradation of permafrost, increased water content of rivers, droughts and land desertification, flooding of coastal areas, etc. The growing number and scale of natural disasters is forcing the Russian Government to introduce more and more frequent emergencies of natural and natural-technogenic nature to manage the situation, to spend huge funds to restore the destroyed economy and territories, to rehabilitate citizens. In this connection preventive management measures against dangerous natural processes are now in the foreground. This approach requires that the management structures in the Russian Federation at all levels expand the scope of oversight, monitoring and control of natural hazards. This undoubtedly intensifies the debate around risk assessment, response and management strategies. The risk-oriented approach and the concept of acceptable risk in management is now becoming the basis of Russia's state policy in the sphere of protection against natural disasters and catastrophes, as in many other developed countries of the world.
Key words: natural disasters; hazardous natural processes; risk of nature management; national security; Russian Federation