[4][5] Major Belarusian groups live in the regions of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Karelia and Siberia.

A minor part of Belarusians in Russia are original inhabitants of the Russian-Belarusian border regions.

In ancient times the regions of Smolensk and Pskov were inhabited by the East Slavic tribe of Krivichi that later became major base of the Russian and Belarusian nations.

During the Polonization of the Grand Duchy in the 16th and 17th centuries, a large number of Orthodox Ruthenians, led by Princes Mstislavsky, Belsky and Galitzine, escaped the repressions to Moscow.

In the times of Imperial Russia and the USSR, 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 the Cold War was the Belarusian Andrei Gromyko.

After the Partition of Poland, Belarusians started migrating to Russia including the imperial capital, St. Petersburg.

The activity of organisations of Belarusian diaspora continued after the October Revolution until it was violently stopped by Stalinist repressions.

Despite mass inflow of migrants from Belarus during last centuries, children of immigrants rarely identify themselves as Belarusians.

In the last decade Belarusian community of Russia is of separate opinion on the current presidency of Alexander Lukashenko.

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.