The article presents a historiographic problem of studying the Russian population of Bessarabia in the period 1918–1940 and the possibilities of its further research from the point of view of ethnology. The interdisciplinary relations between such sciences as ethnology, sociology, anthropology and cultural studies have updated the study of everyday human life, as well as ethnic communions’ activity of different epochs. Here we propose to study the Russian community in Bessarabia, using the local press of the interwar decades, which becomes a rich source of information for ethnology in order to understand the real situation. Various newspaper materials can serve as basic sources not only for historians of ethnology, but also for specialists in the humanities. Conventionally, these materials can be divided into the following categories: daily life, customs, traditions, occupations, mentality, ethnocultural self-identification, sociocultural activity of the Russian diaspora, as well as other communities, urban multi-ethnic society and national, religious, professional communities.