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Does the spirit of the Novgorod Republic truly remain in the people of that region today, even after centuries of Russification?

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In a sense - yes, but obviously given the current situation it is dormant. And this applies not only to Novgorod but also to other Russian regions like Pskov and Smolensk, for example, which also throughout history had a close connection to Central-Eastern Europe. People living in those regions are aware of their distinctness from other Russians, but for now it manifests itself at a local cultural level without going into political dimension. However, when Russia falls into turmoil again, as the current trends suggest, this local self-awareness can quickly acquire a political dimension too.

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No, I do not think so. Almost all Novgorodians were sent to exile and replaced by Muscovites. The Pomors on the White sea (I mean, in the North of Russia, not Ak Deniz!) are descendants of the exiled Novgorodians. Great Russian scholar, scientist and poet Lomonosov was a Pomor, a descendant of Novgorodian Western Slavs.

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And Pomorye was part of the Novgorod Republic. When I refer to the latter I don't simply mean the actual city-state of Novgorod, but the whole realm that was under its control, namely the Russian north-west.

On another note, could you maybe guide me to some sources on the Novgorodian origins of Pomors - especially within the context of their exile? I have long known it, but I would like to read some more detailed information.

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I really do not know where I got this info about Pomors as mostly migrated Novgorodians. Maybe I knew this even from my childhood years. Anyway here https://travel.dogrurik.ru/white-sea-1 it is said that at least some of Pomors were Novgorodians who ran away from Oprichnina (Затем в 1569-1570 годах в Поморье случился массовый исход новгородцев, не желавших примыкать к Москвии и спасавшихся от погромов опричников Ивана Грозного. )

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I see. Thank you for this.

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Late Lev Prozorov, Russian neo-pagan writer and historian, has wrote something about this, I think, but his accent was not so much on the Muscovites vs. Novgorodians, but rather on the violent Christianization of the Slavs at all, which he saw as a very negative phenomenon.

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If in the good outcome this new "republic of novgorod" is reestablished, what name it should be using?

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It can as well be called the "Novgorod Republic" again.

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Gospodin Velikiy Novgorod is a better name. Traditionally, good and absolutely Slavic.

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