Travel  |  Business World  |  Women's World  |  Entertainment

Change Your Life!

Is the Socialist anthem making a comeback?

News
Sports
Chat
Travel
Dhaka Today
Yellow Pages
Higher Education
Ask a Doctor
Weather
Currency Rate
Horoscope
E-Cards
B2K Poll
Comment on the Site
B2K Club

November 23, 2000 

MOSCOW (AP) — A group of Russian governors on Wednesday suggested reinstating the old Soviet anthem to replace the country's current hymn, but left the final choice to parliament.

Many Russians seem to dislike their country's post-Soviet anthem, which uses the music of the ``Patriotic Song'' by 19th-century composer Mikhail Glinka. There are no lyrics.

Russia's communists, nostalgic for the Soviet era, have long tried to restore the Soviet anthem. The proposals were blocked by ex-President Boris Yeltsin but new President Vladimir Putin seems more receptive.

A panel of Russia's State Council — an advisory body of regional governors — met Wednesday to consider the anthem dispute. After reviewing eight proposed anthems, the governors deemed two to be the most appropriate — the current one, and its Soviet-era predecessor.

The Council recommended that parliament decide between the two options.

Other possibilities that have been discussed in recent months include the old imperial anthem, ``God Save the Czar,'' used by Tchaikovsky in his ''1812 Overture''; World War I march ``Slav's Farewell,'' composed by military musician Vasily Agapkin; and several popular patriotic songs.

The Russian Orthodox Church, which was suppressed during the Soviet era, strongly objects to the Soviet anthem, according to Russian media reports.