إيفان الثالث
There is little to no concrete evidence to suggest that Novgorod actually planned to defect to Poland–Lithuania. Novgorod's planned defection (as well as its alleged plan to convert en masse to the Roman Catholic Church) had been used as part of the justification of Ivan III of Russia for taking direct control of the city in 1478, and it seems that Ivan IV copied his paternal grandfather on this and several other occasions - fighting the same battle twice.