MOSCOW Russia's Parliament on Friday overwhelmingly approved reinstating a Stalin-era anthem and a czarist flag and eagle as the country's post-Soviet state symbols.
The state Duma Lower House pushed through the legislation at the request of President Vladimir Putin in less than three hours, with the most controversial proposal, the anthem, securing 381 votes to 51 against.
Voting against were liberal deputies, who called for a new anthem to break with the excesses of the Stalinist past.
Measures to approve the red, white and blue tricolor and the double-headed eagle coat of arms both secured just over 340 votes in the 450-seat chamber.
The legislation will provide Russia, nine years after it emerged from decades of communist rule, with an official coat of arms, flag and anthem for the first time.
The rousing 1943 anthem, an "Unbreakable Union", will replace an arcane 19th-century tune for which no words had been written.
That tune, along with the coat of arms and flag, were only temporary stand-ins approved be decree of former president Boris Yeltsin.
Communists had been delighted with Putin's backing for the "Unbreakable Union" written by Alexander Alexandrov and approved by Stalin while most of European Russia was under Nazi occupation.
Putin, keen to boost Russia's nationhood, had asked the Duma to resolve the issue quickly and back the old Soviet anthem along with the imperial emblem and the tricolor.
He had defended the restoration of the "Unbreakable Union" in a television address this week, saying his choice of symbols was meant to unite Russians by taking the best from their tumultuous history.
The notion of restoring the music of an anthem approved by Josef Stalin has enraged liberals who have called for a complete break with the Soviet era as a mark of respect for the millions of victims of his totalitarian rule.
Liberal groups in Parliament, led by the Yabloko Party, immediately said they would challenge the legislation in the Constitutional Court.
The anthem remains wordless for the moment pending a study of proposed new lyrics. Various sets of words have been put forward and among suggested authors is Sergei Mikhalkov, who wrote the original lyrics and has since amended them twice.
The legislation stipulates that those present during the playing of the anthem must stand to attention and men must remove their hats.
Those found to have insulted the anthem will be subject to criminal proceedings.
As debate got under way, Yabloko Party activists gathered outside Moscow's main post office, urging passersby to send telegrams to Putin denouncing the president's proposals.
Elderly pro-communist demonstrators backing reinstatement of the old anthem stood outside Parliament and a few minor scuffles broke out as deputies made their way inside.
(Reuter)