Russian Republic in the 1500s?

Is it possible for the Novgorod Republic to defeat Moscovy and become the official Russia? How would a 'Republican' Russia be like in comparison to their neighbors? Would they conquer like otl Russia did?
 
Impossible. Novgorod was never a part of the Tatar yoke and was therefore unable to play the system like Muscovy was and grow in power. Also Novgorod was basically just a city state with influence, even if it was somehow able to become a Russia analog it would have to change and evolve.

If OTL was any indication it's politics would be divided by factions.
 
No. Novgorod had to import the majority of their food from places further south. It thus had a critical weakness which can (and OTL was) be exploited. The system itself wasn't the most stable, either. For Novgorod to unite Russia, it will need to invite a prince and effectively become a monarchy.

But Republican Russia is not impossible--you just need Russian politics to evolve in a direction similar to Poland-Lithuania (remember, Poland-Lithuania was considered a republic and all Polish states since 1918 use the same word "Rzeczpospolita" for republic as Poland-Lithuania did). That is what many boyars and other nobles had always wanted, and was probably doable at any point before Peter the Great and especially without Ivan the Terrible doing his best to break noble power. Poland-Lithuania is incidentally what a successful Novgorod or Novgorod-united Russia would probably look like.
 
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