The article examines the dichotomy “friend or foe” as an ethnolinguoaxiological dominant in the proverbs of the peoples in Russia. The study focuses on the interaction between the concepts of ethnolinguistic markers and linguoaxiological markers within paremiological material. Ethnolinguistic markers are interpreted as language components reflecting national specificity and cultural memory, while linguoaxiological markers convey evaluative meanings embedded in proverbs. The research identifies how the opposition “friend or foe” influences value orientations in different linguistic cultures and determines the mechanisms of its semantic and axiological realization. The analysis is based on proverbs containing ethnonyms, toponyms, and culturally marked realia, which function simultaneously as indicators of ethnic identity and as carriers of evaluation. Particular attention is paid to spatial, social, linguistic, and ethnic levels of representation. The results demonstrate that the dichotomy “friend or foe” acts as a system-forming principle in the paremiological worldview, shaping representations of homeland, language, community, and collective identity. At the same time, the material reveals cases of axiological ambivalence, indicating the dynamic and culturally conditioned nature of this opposition.