Belarusians are a major ethnic group inRussia. At thecensus of 2021, 208,046 Russian citizens indicated Belarusian ancestry.[4] Major Belarusian groups live in the regions ofMoscow,St. Petersburg,Kaliningrad,Karelia andSiberia. Most Belarusians in Russia are migrants from modern Belarus or their descendants, while a minor part of Belarusians in Russia are indigenous.
Because of cultural closeness of Belarusians toRussians and weakly expressed national identity, Belarusians are more than other ethnic minorities exposed to assimilation in Russia. Despite mass inflow of migrants from Belarus during last centuries, children of immigrants rarely identify themselves as Belarusians.
A minor part of Belarusians in Russia are original inhabitants of the Russian-Belarusian border regions. In ancient times the regions ofSmolensk andPskov were inhabited by the East Slavic tribe ofKrivichi that later became major base of the Russian and Belarusian nations.
TheKorenization policies of the 1920s encouraged Belarusians of Russia to promote and develop Belarusian cultural life and education. A system of Belarusian schools was established in Western Russia. In the 1930s, the Korenization was reversed and its proponents were repressed.
During thePolonization of the Grand Duchy in the 16th and 17th centuries, a large number of Orthodox Ruthenians, led by PrincesMstislavsky,Belsky andGalitzine, escaped the repressions to Moscow. In documents of that time they are also calledLitvins orWhite Ruthenians.
One of the compact settlements of Litvins in Moscow was the Meschanskaya Sloboda. Its inhabitants engaged in financial operations, trade, and medicine. Meschanskaya Sloboda had a degree of self-governance and a collegiate church.
In the times ofImperial Russia and theUSSR, Moscow as the scientific and economic centre of the country attracted many specialists from different parts of the empire including Belarus. So, the minister of foreign affairs of the USSR during the most tensed period of theCold War was the BelarusianAndrei Gromyko.
After thePartition of Poland, Belarusians started migrating to Russia including the imperial capital,St. Petersburg. Especially many peasants from northern and eastern regions of Belarus migrated to St. Petersburg.
According to statistics, from 1869 to 1910 the number of Belarusians in St. Petersburg grew 23 times and reached 70,000. By the end of that period Belarusians were the biggest ethnic minority in the city.[5] During theFirst World War for some period up to one million Belarusians lived in the city because of inflow of refugees.[6]
In the second half of the 19th century, several Belarusian organisations were created in St. Petersburg uniting intellectuals and students. In 1868 the enlightenment organisationKryvitski Vazok was founded. In the 1880s the organisation of leftist Belarusian intellectualsHoman was created. Along withWilno, St. Petersburg has been the centre of Belarusian cultural an intellectual life in the late 19th century. A Belarusian publishing house existed in St. Petersburg in 1906-1912. Belarusian scientists at the universities of St. Petersburg made important ethnographic researches about Belarus.
The activity of organisations of Belarusian diaspora continued after theOctober Revolution until it was violently stopped byStalinist repressions.
During thePerestroika, several new Belarusian diaspora organisations appeared in Leningrad. Today St. Petersburg, though less than Moscow, is also attractive for workers and students from Belarus.
In the 18th century Belarusians lived in severalgovernorates of European Russia. Belarusian settlements existed inKursk,Penza governorates and in theUral.
After the cancellation ofserfdom in Russia in the 19th century, mass migrations of Belarusian peasants to Russia started. The main destinations were theVolga region, theCaucasus,Central Asia andSiberia.
Belarusiannational revival inRSFSR in early Soviet times included creation of Belarusian local autonomies - national Rural Soviets (Belarusian:сялянскія рады,romanized: sialianskija rady) insideraions. In 1924–1926, 71 Belarusian rural soviets were created in Siberia. In 1926 there were 26 Belarusian rural soviets in the Russian Far East. In the Ural in 1928 there were eleven. Later, several Belarusianraions, administrative units of a higher level, were created. In the early 1930s there was a Belarusian national raion of Taboryn as part of theUral oblast. There was a discussion about the creation of a Belarusian national unit inside theOmsk oblast.
In the mid-1930s all Belarusian autonomies inside theRSFSR were liquidated.
Currently, more and more Belarusian organisations are created in different regions of Russia.
In 2003 a Belarusian cultural societyBelorusy Yugry was registered inSurgut.
The largest and strongest Belarusian diaspora organisation in Russia is theJan Čerski Society for Belarusian Culture in Irkutsk. The organisation unites descendants of Belarusian settlers in Siberia, and has several branches and issues a newspaper.
In the last decade Belarusian community of Russia is of separate opinion on the current presidency ofAlexander Lukashenko. Some organisations support the democratic opposition. Other, more recently founded organisations as theFederal National Cultural Autonomy of Belarusians in Russia are supported by the embassy of Belarus, and have a more positive opinion on the policies of the government.
Besides Russian citizens of Belarusian descent, there are about 400 thousands Belarusians currently working in Russia.[8]
Pavel Yaguzhinsky, statesman and diplomat, associate of Peter the Great, Chamberlain (1712),[1] Ober-Stallmeister (1727), General-in-chief (1727), the first Attorney General in Russian history (1722–1726, 1730–1735)
Sergey Yaguzhinsky, Chamberlain, lieutenant general (1764), owner of the Sylvinsky and Utkinsky factories, as well as a cloth factory in Pavlovskaya Sloboda
Nikolai Nikolayevich Yudenich, commander of the Russian Imperial Army during World War I, leader of the anti-communist White movement in Northwestern Russia during the Civil War
Evgeny Radkevich - Imperial Russian Army general of the infantry and a member of the Military Council
Vladimir May-Mayevsky - military leader who was a general in the Imperial Russian Army and one of the leaders of the counterrevolutionary White movement during the Russian Civil War
Stepan Chernyak - Soviet Army general and Hero of the Soviet Union who held field army and division command during World War II, rising to the rank of general-leytenant
Yefim Baranovich - Imperial Russian and Soviet career military officer whose service spanned the Russo-Japanese War, World War I, the Russian Civil War and the concurrent Polish-Soviet War, and World War II
Anatoly Sliva - judge of the Constitutional Court of Russia from 1998 to 2010, Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of Russia [ru] to the Federation Council from 1996 to 1998
Nikolay Tsed - political figure, deputy of the 8th State Duma
Dmytro Ivanisenya - professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Krylia Sovetov Samara
Marina Yurchenya - Soviet former breaststroke swimmer who competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics
Mikhail Khodaryonok - journalist, military observer for Gazeta.Ru and Vesti FM, and a Reserve Colonel of the Russian Federation
Iosif Gusakovsky - Soviet military leader during World War II who was twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union during World War II for his command of the 44th Guards Tank Brigade
Vasily Sokolovsky, Soviet general and Marshal of the Soviet Union who led Red Army forces on the Eastern Front during World War II.
Yevgeny Ivanovsky, Soviet Army General who served in numerous high commands following the Second World War, including the command of the Moscow Military District from 1968 to 1972, command of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany from 20 July 1972 to 25 November 1980
Yevgeni F. Ivanovski - Soviet military general who served in numerous high commands following the Second World War, including the command of the Moscow Military District from 1968 to 1972, command of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany from 20 July 1972 to 25 November 1980.
Sergei Ignashevich, former professional footballer who played as central defender and is currently the manager of Russian Football National League club Torpedo Moscow.
Andrey Makarevich, Soviet and Russian rock musician and the founder of Russia's oldest still active rock bandMashina Vremeni (Time Machine)
Nikolai Shelyagovich - from April 2008 - Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alliance "Russian automation systems".
Yelena Stempkovskaya - Soviet radio operator in the 216th Rifle Regiment of the Red Army during World War II who was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 15 May 1946.
Ignaty Krachkovsky - Soviet Arabist, academician of the Russian Academy of Science (since 1921; since 1925 Academy of Science of the USSR)
Vladimir Picheta - Soviet historian, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union since 1939, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union since 1946
Sergei Tumansky - designer of Soviet aircraft engines and the chief designer in the Tumansky Design Bureau, OKB-300
Mikhail Mashkovsky - Soviet and Russian pharmacologist, and Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the author of the famous Soviet and later on Russian pharmacopoeia "Medical compounds", which had 15 successful editions (the last 15th edition was published after his death in 2005 in Russia)
Yevgeny Kozlovsky - member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he served as Minister of Geology OF USSR from 1975 to 1989
Alexander Bulatovich - Russian Imperial military officer, explorer of Africa, writer, hieromonk and the leader of the imiaslavie movement in Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
Yevgeny Korotkevich - Soviet scientist and polar explorer, Hero of Socialist Labour, and Doctor of Geographical Sciences
Arkady Onishchik - Soviet mathematician, who worked on Lie groups and their geometrical applications
Luke Voyno-Yasenetsky - surgeon, spiritual writer, a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, and archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea from May 1946 until his death
Sergey Gritsevets - Soviet major and pilot who was twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union
Nikolai Vlasik - ranking Soviet state security (NKVD-NKGB-MGB) officer, best known as head ofJoseph Stalin's personal security from 1931 to 1952
Sergey Kadanchik - Red Army lieutenant colonel and posthumous Hero of the Soviet Union
Ivan Timokhovich - military historian, Doctor of Historical Sciences, professor, Honored Scientist of Russia, Associate Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Major General, Russian Air Force
Adam Rimashevsky - admiral, served as commander of the Ushakov Baltic Higher Naval School from 1998 to 2003, the Higher Special Officer Classes of the Navy from 2003 to 2008, and the Kuznetsov Naval Academy from 2008 to 2012
Valentin Drozd - Soviet Navy vice admiral killed in World War II
Frants Perkhorovich - Soviet Army lieutenant general and a Hero of the Soviet Union
Konstantin Gerchik - military officer who served in the Red Army and a program manager in the former Soviet space program
Aleksandr Gorovets - deputy squadron commander of the 1st squadron of the 88th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment in the Soviet Air Forces during the Second World War
Yelena Stempkovskaya - Soviet radio operator in the 216th Rifle Regiment of the Red Army during World War II who was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on 15 May 1946
^Белорусы в Санкт-Петербурге [Belarusians in St. Petersburg] (in Russian). St. Petersburg State University Department of Ethnography and Anthropology. 2004. Retrieved30 October 2016.
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Ancestry in Russia