LTStraipsnyje aptariama lietuvių karo pabėgėlių Rusijoje politinio gyvenimo transformacija 1915–1918 metais. Ypač jį paveikė Rusijos revoliucija: karo pradžioje daugelis politinių veikėjų laikėsi autonomijos ir federalizmo idėjų, o po revoliucijos dalis pradėjo atvirai siekti nepriklausomybės. Straipsnyje naujai analizuojami svarbiausio Rusijos lietuviams politinio įvykio, Petrapilio seimo, eiga ir nutarimai, polemizuojama su anksčiau pateiktu jo nutarimų vertinimu bei aptariamas bolševikų perversmo poveikis pabėgėliams: nuo politinės jų dalies radikalizacijos iki pabėgėlių šelpimo tinklo likvidavimo ir teroro. Raktiniai žodžiai: Pirmasis pasaulinis karas, pabėgėliai, revoliucija, autonomija, nepriklausomybė, teroras, Petrapilio seimas.
ENThis article analyses the transformation of the political life of Lithuanian war refugees in Russia between 1915 and 1918. At the outset of World War I, more than 250,000 ethnic Lithuanian refugees were displaced from their native provinces into the Russian interior. Although the Lithuanian patriotic elite initially declared loyalty to the tsarist regime, they quickly began to view the war as an opportunity for the political mobilisation of Lithuanian society. By late 1915, the Lithuanian refugee press in Russia was already questioning the pro-Russian orientation that had dominated at the beginning of the conflict. Prior to the February Revolution of 1917, however, the refugees lacked a unified political organisation capable of articulating the national aims of Lithuanians. This changed in early 1917, when the Council of the Lithuanian Nation was established and subsequently convened the All-Lithuanian Assembly in Petrograd in late May. The democratically elected delegates of the Assembly issued a call for Lithuanian independence, though this provoked a split, as left-wing parties continued to advocate autonomy within a federal, democratic Russia.Political divisions only deepened as the Russian revolution radicalised. Following the Bolshevik coup of October 1917, the new regime dismantled the refugee relief network and launched persecution of their political opponents. The subsequent mass repatriation of refugees to Lithuania opened a new phase of their political mobilisation, as the emerging Lithuanian state claimed them as citizens. Keywords: World War I, refugees, revolution, autonomy, independence, terror, Petrograd Diet.