Jauhien Aniscanka. The border of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the documents of the boundary commissions.

The article is based on the little known documents of the Collegium of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire relating to the conflicts on the border with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during 1720–1770. In controversy with Russia the Grand Duchy defended its federative autonomy as a part of the Commonwealth with Poland; and this complicated the adjustment of diplomatic relations. In boundary controversies the main attention was concentrated on the escapes of Russian peasants to the territory of the Grand Duchy where they find salvation from heavy taxes, from press of recruiting, and from religeous persecution. The landlords used the migrants to colonize (to people) their own estates and frequently to promote further enticing of boundary inhabitants from Russia. Landlords and officaials resisted to the demands of the central administration of the Commonwealth under the pressure of the Russian side to extradite fugitives. The Russian side persistently fortified military defence of its border. Nevertheless, such one–sided measures couldn’t stop migration.
The next group of interrelations between the states touches commercial relations along the Dzvina river and land ways. The moot points were the following: transit of goods, customs and mutual debts between the merchants of Shklou and Russian towns. All the boundary conflicts in their sharp form are reflected in the documents of the Collegium till 1760. It may be so because of the fact that after coming to the throne of Stanislau Paniatouski St.Petersburg had oriented itself to other ways of solving those acute problems.