Nechai, Ivan

Nechai, Ivan [Nečaj], b and d ? Cossack leader; brother of Danylo Nechai and husband of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky's daughter, Stepanyda. He was Khmelnytsky's consul in the Crimean Khanate (1650–3) and was acting hetman of Belarus in command of the Belarusian regiment (1656–9) after Ivan Zolotarenko's death. Continuous Muscovite attempts to annex southern Belarus resulted in conflict with his troops. Nechai supported the Treaty of Hadiach. He was captured during the Ukrainian-Muscovite War of 1659 and exiled to Tobolsk until 1663. His subsequent fate is unknown.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]