The Russian universities as well as universities from other countries increasingly compete not only at the national level, but globally. This trend is reflected in growing interest to universities rankings. Despite criticism, rankings outcomes are in demand and influence universities’ positioning in the global higher education area. In Russia several rankings have been recently established, striving to satisfy needs of various stakeholders. However, all these approaches are single dimensional rankings that use a composite indicator and weight coefficients. The article presents a rationale and draft methodology of a multidimensional ranking system in Russia. The authors advocate relevancy of the chosen approach as it allows them to reflect complexity and diversity of the Russian Higher Education system. Drawing on the project outcomes, the authors focus on the national multidimensional ranking methodology concept, choice of indicators, the approbation outcomes, dilemmas and decisions.