I really do believe Kievan Rus and Republic of Novgorod should be merged. After all, I think that the Republic of Novgorod did not even begin to exist in 1100. Anyway, if "Republic of Novgorod" is 'recycled' there would be one single russian faction, a free faction slot, and a bit of improvement for the Kievan Rus. Even if you give only one settlement from the Republic of Novgorod to the Kievan Rus (and recycle the Republic of Novgorod) that should be fine (i.e. you won't harden the life of the cumans or lithuanians or teutons).