Peninsula's independent Russian butcher (6)

I believe the answer is:

iberia

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'peninsula's' is the definition.
(peninsula including Spain and Portugal)

'independent russian butcher' is the wordplay.
'independent' becomes 'i'.
'russian butcher' becomes 'beria' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'i'+'beria'='IBERIA'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for iberia that I've seen before include "European region" , "West European peninsula" , "SW European peninsula" , "W. European peninsula" , "Spain and Portugal together" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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