"Our fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers fought and died with this red banner, with the hammer and sickle. It was hoisted on the Reichstag and the symbol of this Victory must be preserved", said Nikolai Ryshkov, the Federation Council member.

"An attempt to remove such a symbol and such an epoch-making flag-banner from our history is tantamount to a desire to shatter the foundation of our society", said Vladimir Slutsker, Head of the Commission on National Policy in the upper chamber of the Russian Duma.

It was President Putin himself who abolished the Soviet Anthem and made the author-composer write new lyrics, but Putin was very afraid that if he abolished also the music to the Soviet original Soviet Anthem, he would face unprecedented turmoil from the people, so he had just the words changed – of course eliminating any mention of the word Soviet.

Unfortunately there are even now well meaning progressive people that tell NSC not to make any remarks or criticize Mr. Putin – after all he is striving to build a Greater Russia.

There was a Great USSR, which included a great Russia, which Mr. Putin wants to eliminate from the minds of the people any mention of the word Soviet – even though he swore allegiance as a KGB officer to defend the USSR from its enemies to the death – both external and internal!