Russia National Anthem — State Anthem of the Russian Federation

The modern Russian anthem is a hymn of pride in the nation itself — its vast expanse "from the southern seas to the polar lands", its status as a sacred, God-protected homeland, and the unity and endurance of its people. Where the Soviet lyrics praised Lenin and the Communist Party, Mikhalkov's 2000 rewrite replaced that with references to Russia as an age-old, beloved country and to faith, patriotism and the future. It is a solemn, majestic anthem rather than a call to arms.

Few anthems capture a country's 20th-century turbulence like this one. Alexandrov's melody replaced "The Internationale" as the Soviet anthem in 1944; after 1991 the new Russia dropped it for Glinka's wordless "Patriotic Song", which proved unpopular precisely because it had no words to sing. Putin's 2000 decision to bring back the Soviet-era melody with fresh lyrics was controversial but widely embraced, and the anthem has since become a fixture of Russian sporting and state occasions.

The music of Russia's anthem was composed by Alexander Alexandrov and first used, with different words, as the Soviet state anthem from 1944. The current lyrics were written by Sergey Mikhalkov and adopted in 2000, when the Alexandrov melody was restored as the anthem of the Russian Federation. Mikhalkov had also written the Soviet lyrics of 1943 and their 1977 revision.