The Ilmen Slavs seem to have been different from other Slavic tribes colonizing what is now Russia in that they were closely related to the Polabian Slavs in language and traditions (see old Novgorod dialect and Gostomysl for examples).
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The land of the Ilmen Slavs later became the center of the Novgorod Republic.
Slavs | Lake Ilmen | Polabian Slavs | Hey, Slavs | East Slavs |