The article considers the problems connected with the border policy as a major part of the national policy. Border policies is an effective instrument of realization and protection of the national interests of the country, ensuring the security of individual, society, state and objects in the border area from external and internal threats, the observance of legal regulations on border issues, the creation of conditions for the development of interstate relations. More specifically explores the issues of border security in the light of the historical experience of the protection of the economic interests of the Russian Empire on the border of the XIX century.