Abstract: In the modern research literature, there is a discussion about what concept to designate the socio-cultural community of the Volga Germans. Having previously corrected some aspects of the definitions given by the researchers, the author came to the conclusion that it would be most correct to recognize the Volga Germans as an independent Russian-German ethnic group that does not have a clearly defined spatial autonomy, but has a place of compact residence. The second problem directly affecting the preservation of the identity of this ethnic group is the problem of preserving the native language. We also propose to analyze the definitions of the concepts "nation", "ethnos", "national (ethnic) minority". Special attention is paid to the problem of preserving the language as the basis of the cultural identity of Russian Germans, including Volga Germans. The article presents a plan for conducting a sociological study to identify quantitative and other indicators of the Volga Germans ethnic group at the present time in order to obtain an objective definition of the ethnocultural phenomenon "Russian Germans".