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. During the First World War for some period up to one million Belarusians lived in the city because of inflow of refugees. In the second half of the 19th century, several Belarusian organisations were created in St. Petersburg uniting intellectuals and students. In 1868 the enlightenment organisation Kryvitski Vazok was founded. In the 1880s the organisation of leftist Belarusian intellectuals Homan was created. Along with Wilno, 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 the October Revolution until it was violently stopped by Stalinist repressions. During the Perestroika, several new Belarusian diaspora organisations appeared in Leningrad. Today St. Petersburg, though less than Moscow, is also attractive for workers and students from Belarus. Siberia Siberia was host to mass migrations from Belarus in the 19th century. Among the first were the deported participants of the January Uprising and the November uprising. During the period between 1885 and 1914, around 550,000 Belarusians settled to Siberia. Entire Belarusian villages existed there. After the October Revolution, the stream of migrants from Belarus to Siberia did not stop. The Soviets tried to organise their flow and sanctioned research on the history and traditions of Siberian Belarusians. In 1929 the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus organised a special ethnographic expedition to Siberia. In the census of 1926, 371,840 Siberians stated their Belarusian descent. Korenization allowed the Belarusian minority in RSFSR to develop its culture and language. Belarusian schools were created in Siberia. In the 1930s and early 1940s many Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian intellectuals and peasants were deported to Siberia, including those from West Belarus following its annexation to the BSSR. In the late 1980s the Belarusian national revival movement also affected Siberian Belarusians. The Jan Cherski Society for Belarusian Culture was established in Irkutsk and is now the largest and most active organisation of the Belarusian diaspora in Russia. Other regions In the 18th century Belarusians lived in several gubernyas of European Russia. Belarusian settlements existed in Kursk, Penza gubernyas and in the Ural. After the cancellation of