The paper describes the major models of building symbolic spaces of the world maps in the Russian collective consciousness and provides the classification of the factors to build symbolic representations. The author considers the potential risks associated with shaping unfavourable symbolic outlines in the representations of the political world map with respect to each model. Risks were primarily related to the negative impact of anxiety on the level of collective attitudes; the symbolic voidness of images of certain countries; negative attitudes towards the international order; the conflicted or, conversely, idealized viewpoint on the entire international (foreign) affairs; the transformation of russocentrism into the image of confrontation between ‘us’ and ‘them’ in the context of the insufficiently built national-state identity and passive dissatisfaction; the stereotyped, often cognitively shallow and ‘mosaic’ perception of own country by Russian youth.
 The symbolic ideas of both possible and desirable international trends in Russian collective consciousness can be described as fragmented, which can probably be due to the inadequate completeness of the symbolic space of the political world map. The vague ideas by Russians regarding the country’s place in the world and its possible behaviour strategies in international politics make foreign policy perception hypersensitive and dependent primarily on stereotypes and the media’s informational agenda, which is also a risk.
 Following the study outcomes, a set of socio-political mechanisms and measures that can prevent and minimize the identified challenges and the risks was proposed. The need to frame an elaborate and consistent information policy (through media, cultural, educational and youth policy, educational system, non-profit institutions) aimed at minimizing the symbolic voidness of the world map perceived by Russian citizens, at building the national-state identity and forming symbolically complete images of own territory and those of other countries as well as at systematic and adequate informing citizens about current international events and contacts through dialogs is of major importance.