The Ilmen Mountains will be the second, after the Valamo archipelago, mixed (natural and cultural) site on Russia's Tentative List, which now includes 7 natural sites; two of them - Putorana Plateau and Lena Pillars - are currently under consideration in the World Heritage Center, others are the Magadansky Reserve, Daurian Steppes, Commander Islands, the Great Vasyugan Mire and the Krasnoyarsk Pillars. The RF Tentative List also includes 13 cultural properties.

Formal request for inclusion of the Ilmen Mountains in to the World Heritage List was sent to the World Heritage Center in July 2008. The request form has been prepared by the Ilmensky State Reserve with the assistance of the Natural Heritage Protection Fund and is approved by the Administration of the Chelyabinsk Region, the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On August 11 the nomination was officially added on the Russian Federation Tentative List.

The Ilmen Mountains natural site (the territory is located within the borders of the Ilmensky State Reserve named after V.Lenin of the Ural Branch of RAS) is proposed as a potential mix (natural and cultural) World Heritage property meeting criteria vi, vii and viii.