Despite the growing interest in the topic of sustainable development, research on this issue has not yet established a single strategy that is relevant and applicable in each country. The need to take into account the specificity of a particular nation and a large amount of discussions determined the purpose of the study, which is to analyse aspects of sustainable development, identify problems that prevent Russia from implementing the principles of sustainable development, as well as offer recommendations for their solution. The present research is relevant, since Russia currently does not have a successful sustainable development policy. The obtained findings show that the transition to the concept of sustainable development as a strategy for the development of Russia is inevitable. Based on system analysis, a number of recommendations was developed, the implementation of which can help our country in this difficult mission.