Parting with the 'Yeltsin era'

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW: The Russian Parliament has voted overwhelmingly to reinstate the old Soviet anthem in what analysts said symbolised an end to the era of the former Russian President, Mr. Boris Yeltsin. The State Duma on Friday endorsed the anthem proposed by the President, Mr. Vladimir Putin, by 378 votes to 53. Mr. Putin balanced the anthem choice with the tricolour flag and the double-headed eagle, which date from the tsarist times and were re-introduced by Mr. Yeltsin. Both symbols were also approved by the Parliament. Mr. Putin said he hoped the state symbols belonging to different periods of Russian history would cement the nation. However, Russian liberals protested against the Soviet anthem as a tune of the totalitarian regime which had been personally approved by the Communist dictator, Josef Stalin. Analysts read symbolic meaning into the revival of the Soviet anthem on December 8, ten years to the day after Mr. Yeltsin dismantled the Soviet empire. The Segodnya daily described the event as Mr. Putin's ``parting with the Yeltsin era.'' ``Yeltsin hoped to choose a successor, but has chosen a terminator,'' the paper said, adding that the Yeltsin era had in fact disintegrated on its own, because liberals had failed to put forward ``an attractive ideological platform that could overcome the imperial tradition.'' In the picture, a pro-communist Muscovite holding a Soviet navy flag and a portrait of Lenin rejoices in front of the Duma on Friday.

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Section  : International
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