The article is devoted to the problem of confusing the concepts of “nation” and “people” in the legal mechanism for regulating interfaith relations in the Russian Federation. The relevance is due to the growing number of legal disputes related to the qualification of acts on grounds of national and religious hatred. The purpose of the work is to identify legal defects that arise because of terminological uncertainty and propose regulatory ways to eliminate them. Based on an analysis of constitutional norms, industry legislation and law enforcement practice, it is substantiated that the identification of a religious community with a nation (people) gives rise to incorrect classification of crimes, substitution of the object of encroachment and creates a threat to the unity of the legal space. A set of measures to eliminate the identified shortcomings is proposed.