Republican nation unexpectedly crashed (3,4)

I believe the answer is:

ran into

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'republican nation unexpectedly crashed' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'republican nation unexpectedly' is the wordplay.
'republican' becomes 'R' (political abbreviation).
'unexpectedly' is an anagram indicator.
'nation' is an anagram of 'aninto'.
'r'+'aninto'='RAN INTO'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for ran into that I've seen before include "saw by accident" , "Encountered" , "Met - in a collision?" , "Came across" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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