Smolensk Governorate
In the course of the administrative reform carried out in 1708 by Peter the Great, Bely became the center of Belsky Uyezd of Smolensk Governorate and remained there until 1929, with the exception of the brief periods between 1713 and 1726, when it belonged to Riga Governorate, and between 1775 and 1796, when Smolensk Governorate was transformed into Smolensk Viceroyalty.