Smolensk and Chernigov were definitely incorporated in the tsardom of Muscovy, and great progress was made towards the absorption of Little Russia.
For some time Tsar Alexius hesitated, because he knew that intervention could entail a war with Poland, but after consulting a National Assembly on the subject, he decided to take Little Russia under his protection, and in January 1654 a great Cossack assembly ratified the arrangement, on the understanding that a large part of the old local autonomy should be preserved.
Nevertheless, a simultaneous outbreak of a jacquerie in Little-Russia contributed to the extension of the confederation throughout the eastern province of Poland and even in Lithuania.
It is an important centre for the trade of Great Russia with Little Russia - cattle and corn being sent to the north in exchange for manufactured and grocery wares.
In 1649, after the revolt of Little Russia and its liberation from the Polish rule, Nyezhin was the chief town of one of the most important Cossack regiments.
