The article attempts to identify the elements of culture that separate non-ethnic migrants from the Central Asian countries and Russian citizens. The study of elements of cultural incompatibility as a factor of increasing confl ict in the sphere of interaction between migrants and members of the host community helps to understand how integration problems could be minimized. The qualitative analysis enables to fi nd out how Yekaterinburg residents construct differentiating elements of culture and label migrants from the Central Asian countries. The contradictory judgements of people indicates that it is an ongoing process, not an established position, however, the intensity of construction is, according to the authors, the latent base confl icts, updating of which can occur at any time.