Explanation: The Novgorod Republic was a polity in the Medieval period which dominated, for a time, the politics of what we now would recognize as European Russia. While it was FAR from democratic by modern standards, it was a rare example of a republic in the medieval period, largely dominated by dynastic monarchies, with democratic features. It gets points for being cutting-edge, however imperfect.

Eventually, the city’s power was destroyed in the 15th century AD by the forces of the Principality of Moscow, and Novgorod’s leaders executed or forced into exile, and Moscow would take the dominant role in the politics of the Rus from then-on.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novgorod_veche