This article examines the concept of Russian-Caucasian cultural and scientific connections in works of Y.A. Zhdanov who was an outstanding Russian scientist, organizer of science, chemist, philosopher, Caucasian in the middle of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Georgian science and culture are singled out as an important component of the culture of the peoples of the former USSR and the ones of the Caucasus. Mental features of the scientific and artistic intelligentsia of Georgia are considered in the context of the specifics of the national culture. The Zhdanov’s conception of the possibilities and prospects of scientific links between Russia and the peoples of the Caucasus is presented. Zhdanov's criticism of the essence of multiculturalism as the idea of ​​the preservation of national cultures and customs is analyzed. The theory of multiculturalism contrasts the idea of ​​the democratic development of the Region national cultures based on the synthesis of Western and Eastern spiritual values. In this regard, the reason for the high evaluation of the Georgian science and culture as the most important "stratum" of the culture of the Caucasian peoples is revealed. There are several arguments that allow us to draw conclusions about the "organic compatibility" of the Caucasian and Russian cultures, for which scientists have introduced a new concept - "tunnel effect of culture" to describe the processes of overcoming ethnocultural conflicts.