Since at least the 13th century there are records of Lithuanian nobility taking allegiance to principalities in Russian lands and to
Russian Tsardom. One of the early cases was
Daumantas of Pskov (1240-1299), a Lithuanian prince, who fled to Pskov after his troubles in the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Other Lithuanian nobility entered Russian lands by marriage or by changing allegiance during wars. , 1887 After the
Partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, most of Lithuanian lands were incorporated into the
Russian Empire and there was economic and educational migration of Lithuanians into Russia proper; a number of prominent Lithuanians stayed in Russia (while many of them returned to Lithuania after receiving education in St. Petersburg and Moscow). After the Polish
November Uprising (1830-1831) and
January Uprising (1863–1864), which spread into Lithuania, hundreds of Lithuanian rebels (together with Poles) were exiled to Siberia. During
World War I a considerable number of Lithuanian refugees (among others) from
Northwestern Krai and
Suvalki Governorate fled into the interior of Russia. There were massive
Soviet deportations from Lithuania to remote parts of the Soviet Union during the
Soviet occupation of Baltic states during
World War II. The major actions of this kind were
June deportation,
Operation Priboi,
Operation Vesna,
Operation Osen. The number of deported non-combatants is estimated 130,000. Still more anti-Soviet
Lithuanian partisans and political prisoners were placed into
Gulag labor camps. After Stalin's death in 1953 the slow process of the release of deported started. About 60,000 Lithuanians returned from the exile and some 30,000 were prohibited to return to Lithuania. According to the
1989 Soviet census, there were about 40,000 Lithuanians in
Siberia alone. After the
collapse of the Soviet Union and
Lithuania reestablishing its independence in 1990 they started returning to Lithuania in masses. Reasons to remain include mixed families, old age, and poor financial status. ==See also==