At the end of the 17th century the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth disappeared from the political map of Europe and its territory was divided between neighboring states Austria, Prussia and Russia. According to the first section in 1772 the large right-bank part of Polotsk moved to the Russian Empire, and according to the second section of 1793 its left-bank part moved to it. During the first decades under the rule of the Romanovs' house Polotsk changed its administrative status several times. In 1772 it was annexed to the Pskov province as a district city, later in 1776 it became the provincial center and two years later the Polotsk province was reorganized into governorship. In the new status the city exists until 1802, when the province was formed with the center in Vitebsk. Polotsk became the county center.
Among the innovations of that time were the introduction of the poll tax, recruitment duties, and Jewish residency features. The circulation of money in Polotsk was unified following the example of other territories of the Russian empire. The main legal document on the lands of the Polotsk province, and then the county until 1832, was the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1588.