Natiiv, Oleksander

Natiiv, Oleksander [Натіїв, Олександер; Natijiv], b 1873 in Batumi oblast, Russian Empire, d 16 June 1919 in Batumi. Senior officer in the Army of the Ukrainian National Republic. An Ossetian by origin, he was a general officer in the Russian army during the First World War and joined the UNR Army in 1917. In March–April 1918 he commanded the Separate Division of Zaporozhian Corps, which cleared Left-Bank Ukraine and the Crimea of Bolshevik forces. In 1919 he organized the Transcaucasian Volunteer Battalion in Batumi. He was murdered by the Bolsheviks.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]