MOSCOW -- The State Duma will vote on Friday on President Vladimir Putin's proposal to give the country a mixed bag of state symbols ranging from the tsarist eagle to the Stalin-era Soviet anthem.
Nine years after the collapse of Communism Russia is still living without an official crest, flag or hymn. Its current double-headed eagle, the red-white-and-blue tricolour and an arcane 19th-century tune are no more than temporary stand-ins.
Putin, keen to boost Russia's nationhood, has asked the State Duma lower house of parliament to resolve the issue quickly by backing his proposal to re-instate the old Soviet anthem along with the imperial emblem and the tricolour.
The idea, which Putin said was meant to unite Russians by taking the best from their tumultuous history, has sparked a heated debate and served to alienate the president from his predecessor and former mentor Boris Yeltsin.
At the centre of the argument is the rousing "Unbreakable Union" tune by Alexander Alexandrov, composed at the time of some of the bloodiest battles of World War Two and personally approved by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
Opponents of its restoration say it would effectively pay homage to totalitarianism and disrespect to the millions of Stalin's victims.
But Putin has said he has the backing of Russians, who refuse to reject their own history outright.