serfdom in Russia in the 19th century, mass migrations of Belarusian peasants to Russia started. The main destinations were the Volga region, the Caucasus, Central Asia and Siberia. From the late 1940s to the early 1960s many Belarusians settled in Karelia, Arkhangelsk Oblast, the Komi Republic, and Kaliningrad Oblast. Belarusian territorial autonomies in Russia Belarusian national revival in RSFSR in early Soviet times included creation of Belarusian local autonomies - national Rural Soviets (сельсоветы) inside raions. 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 Belarusian raions, administrative units of a higher level, were created. In the early 1930s there was a Belarusian national raion of Taboryn as part of the Ural oblast. There was a discussion about the creation of a Belarusian national unit inside the Omsk oblast. In the mid-1930s all Belarusian autonomies inside the RSFSR were liquidated. Modern state Number of Belarusians in Russia Because of cultural closeness of Belarusians to Russians 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. Currently, more and more Belarusian organisations are created in different regions of Russia. In 2003 a Belarusian cultural society Belorusy Yugry was registered in Surgut. The largest and strongest Belarusian diaspora organisation in Russia is the Jan 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 Moscow there is the Frantsishak Skaryna Society for Belarusian Culture and an informal union of Belarusian students. In Bashkortostan there is a Belarusian national cultural centre Siabry founded in 1996. In Kaliningrad Belarusians are united in the culture society Karalaviec. In the last decade Belarusian community of Russia is of separate opinion on the current presidency of Alexander Lukashenko. Some organisations support the democratic opposition. Other, more recently founded organisations as the Federal 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. Notable Russians of Belarusian origin Fyodor Dostoyevsky, writer, descendant