The concept of unconditional basic income (UBI), which provides for the introduction (instead of or in addition to existing forms of social protection) of regular universal cash payments on an individual basis in favor of all members of the community without any preconditions, is attracting increasing interest among experts and scholars, international organizations, charitable foundations, municipal and regional authorities. Estimating the possible consequences of introducing a basic income, however, remains an equation with too many unknowns. As a result, even in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which demanded unprecedented measures in the social sphere, preference was given to traditional mechanisms to support the economy, employment, and living standards. The results of experiments with basic income, carried out over the past half-century, due to their limited scope, are still clearly insufficient to make an unambiguous conclusion about the viability of this scheme and the feasibility of its implementation on a national scale. At the same time, these experiments showed that basic income, when incorporated into existing social protection systems, can become an effective tool for smoothing regional disparities, the vulnerable position of a certain age and gender groups, as well as improving physical and mental health indicators. Moreover, they allow us, with some caution, to conclude that concerns about the negative impact of basic income on employment are grossly exaggerated. With regard to Russia, promising directions for the implementation of pilot programs could be as following: stimulating the development of lagging regions of the Federation, supporting young people who have recently entered the labor market and citizens of pre-retirement age, as well as, in light of unfavorable demographic trends, the introduction of unconditional cash payments for minor children.