Russia’s President Signs Bill Reviving Melody of Soviet Anthem

President Vladimir V. Putin wrapped up a thorny debate over Russia’s national symbols--and its post-Communist identity--by signing a package of laws Tuesday resurrecting the melody of the Soviet anthem as Russia’s state hymn.

The package has something for everyone: It also endorses the tricolor flag used since the 1991 Soviet collapse and the czarist-era state emblem of a double-headed eagle. Putin has said the combination will mend rifts in a nation still deeply divided about decades of Communist rule.

Some people have criticized the package, saying it honors a totalitarian time and reflects Russia’s split identity.

Both houses of parliament passed the bill earlier this month by a wide margin.

Lawmakers will not get a say in the next step, however--deciding on new lyrics for the anthem. With parliament’s consent, Putin on Tuesday created a working group of 12 lawmakers and government officials charged with choosing from more than 150 proposed texts. They were given no deadline for their decision, which will then go to Putin for final approval.

The anthem law signed Tuesday endorses only the melody by Alexander Alexandrov, not the words praising Soviet dictators Vladimir I. Lenin and Josef Stalin. The music replaces the wordless tune by 19th century Russian composer Mikhail Glinka that the country has been using since 1991 as its anthem, a piece many Russians complained was too difficult and not as stirring as the Soviet one.

Another law in the package gives a nod to Soviet military might by giving Russia’s much-weakened armed forces a red flag like the Soviet banner--but without the hammer and sickle.

The bill also formally approves the flag of white, blue and red horizontal stripes that Russia has been using since 1991. One law endorses the emblem of an eagle holding a scepter and an orb, which is used on currency, documents, uniforms and warships.

Communists and other hard-liners opposed the tricolor flag and the eagle emblem, forcing former President Boris N. Yeltsin to approve them by decree in the early 1990s.

Illustrating Russia’s divisions over its Soviet past, respondents to a poll released Tuesday listed Lenin as their No. 1 choice of “man of the century” for their country.