Studies of political trust tend to focus primarily on national and international levels rather than subnational ones, and more on democratic than non-democratic states.  Set in the wider context of studies of trust across Europe and beyond, the present study addresses this gap and examines trust in regional and local authorities in the Russian Federation using a national representative opinion survey that focuses on regional and local government.  It finds that generalised trust transfers between levels of government, but policy delivery and a citizens’ sense of efficacy also plays a role. The paper adds to existing knowledge of political trust. Methodologically, it separates regional and local levels from each other.  Empirically, it studies the interactions between citizens and state in the everyday governance of Russia’s vast peripheries.  In more general terms, it examines how trust mechanisms differ between democratic and non-democratic regimes, and the role that subnational governance structures can play in preserving pluralism even where central authorities move in a more authoritarian direction