Putin Signs Anthem: Russia Embraces Soviet Echoes
Putin brought back the Soviet anthem. Not the words — those were gone, praising Lenin and the Communist Party. Just Alexandrov's 1944 melody, the one that played at Olympic victories and military parades for half a century. New lyrics by the same poet who wrote the Soviet version, but scrubbed clean: "Russia" replaced "Soviet Union," generic pride replaced ideology. Furious debate followed. Boris Yeltsin had buried this tune in 1991, replaced it with a Glinka piece nobody could sing. Critics called the revival nostalgia for empire. But Putin wanted a melody people actually knew, one that felt powerful at hockey games. The compromise was perfect post-Soviet logic: keep the sound of the past, rewrite what it means.
December 25, 2000
26 years ago
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