Relevance of studying the issues of implementing youth policy (YP) in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation is dictated by the need for a systematic analysis of the practices of interaction between the state, society and the young generation in individual territories of the country in terms of ensuring its unity. The article reveals the content, basic principles of YP in post-Soviet Tatarstan, and impact they had on the social integration of the republic’s youth. An analysis of official documents and interviews with experts made it possible to identify the main leitmotifs of the Tatarstan YP: idea of a partnership type of relations between the state and youth, its perception as a subject of life choice and self-development, the need to create infrastructural conditions to arouse interest in various types of leisure among the younger generation. The main themes of the official discourse are reflected in the social self-determination of young people. But with regard to individual identities, the transition has not yet been noticeable. This is due to the influence of discourses not indicated in the doctrinal documents about youth. The idea of the federal center about civic identity, which is being developed in Tatarstan, finds a response among the youth. Strengthening its militaristic foundations as young people grow up sets the task of finding positive, humanistic foundations for the transit of ideas about the country, primarily in terms of providing opportunities for real individual self-realization, the demand for which is very high among the younger generation.