New anthem compares Putin to tsars
MOSCOW MPs in Russia have called for the restoration of the pre-revolutionary national anthem, in what looks like a paean of praise to President Vladimir Putin.
Three deputies in the state duma, the lower house of parliament, have introduced a bill that aims to replace the current song with God Save the Tsar!, which was used by the Romanovs before the 1917 revolution.
The MPs are from the Liberal Democratic Party, part of the ‘‘systemic opposition’’ which critics say provides a shadow play of opposing the Kremlin while actually being guided by it. The party is led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a nationalist demagogue who sang the tsarist anthem at a Kremlin ceremony last year after being awarded a state medal by Putin.
‘‘Although the contemporary hymn is deeply respected by many Russians, it is precisely the imperial hymn that represents pride in glorious victories and symbolises a great country with a great history,’’ the MPs argue in the preamble to their bill.
Restoring it would ‘‘lead to a growth in patriotic sentiment among Russian citizens, allow the revival of traditions of past centuries, and strengthen further the international position of the Russian Federation’’, they add.
Political analysts said the initiative looked more like a means of demonstrating loyalty to Putin than a genuine attempt to change Russia’s anthem. The Times