A pandemic expansion of diabetes mellitus (DM) observed nowadays across the globe is increasingly acknowledged as a disaster by all peoples of the world. Statistical analysis indicates an annual increase in prevalence of DM in Russian Federation that had reached 3 779 423 registered patients by 01.01.2013. Besides the humanitarian aspects, DM poses severe economic challenges for this country-challenges that stem both from high mortality and growing disability rate due to limb loss, decrease in visual acuity and need for hemodialysis, plaguing many DM patients. Aim: To produce an epidemiological evaluation based on the dynamics of prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in the Russian Federation-nationwide and in individual regions-across the last 13 years. Materials and Methods: Current survey included patients from various regions of the Russian Federation that were examined during epidemiological missions conducted by the federal Endocrinology Research Centre (2000-2009), as well as National Programmes «Health» (2007) and «Diabetes-Learn In Advance» (2012-2013). Results: In the Russian Federation registered more than 630,000 patients with different stages of diabetic retinopathy. The prevalence of diabetic retinopathy among adults (18 years and older) with type 1 diabetes is 35.25%, while in type 2 diabetes-16.67%. On average, this means that almost one in five patients (17.63%) with diabetes have certain eye problems. Conclusion: In summary, our data indicate a dramatic growth in the rate of diabetic ocular complications, with a particular increase in proliferative diabetic retinopathy, complicated cataract and neovascular glaucoma. These findings call for an even closer attention to early diagnostics, adequate management and, above everything else, timely prevention of ocular pathologies in patients with DM.