President Putin's provocative plan to revive the Soviet hymn as Russia's national anthem has struck a chord with politicians who overwhelmingly voted in favour of a return to the Stalin-era tune.
The State Duma, the lower house of parliament, passed a bill restoring the anthem, without the old lyrics, by a vote of 381 to 51, with two abstentions, on the third reading.
The bill now moves to the Federation Council, the upper house, for a vote. If approved, it will then be referred to Mr Putin, who initiated the plan, for his signature.
Russian liberals have told Mr Putin that the plan to restore the Soviet hymn as Russia's national anthem is a mistake that will sow division in the country. According to a recent poll, Russians are evenly split over the idea of reintroducing the Sovietera tune.
The liberal opposition Yabloko faction said it would go to the Constitutional Court to challenge the legal basis of reintroducing the booming, triumphalist hymn. But Mr Putin has won backing from the Orthodox Church for the tune.
The new Russian coat of arms, and the tsarist two-headed eagle and tricolour flag adopted by the former president, Mr Boris Yeltsin, will be retained as national symbols under another bill approved by the Duma yesterday.
Meanwhile, Mr Putin's principal security adviser said yesterday that the jailed American, Mr Edmond Pope, could be home with his family in the US by Christmas. "I think it is quite possible that Edmond Pope will celebrate Christmas at home," the Security Council secretary, Mr Sergei Ivanov, said.
Pope had moved closer to freedom after a presidential commission asked Mr Putin to pardon the businessman, who was jailed for 20 years on Wednesday for espionage.
Four people were killed and dozens more injured when two car-bombs exploded in the southern Russian town of Pyatigorsk, near the border with Chechnya.