Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov says the deputies will overrule the Federation Council’s veto on the bill.
Photo: Yury Martyanov
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Duma to Take Away Hammer and Sickle from Victory Banner
The Russian State Duma is set to take away the hammer and sickle from the Victory Banner, contrary to a stance of the parliament’s upper chamber, the Federation Council. Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said Monday the deputies would overrule the Council’s veto on the bill.
Russian Senators from the Federation Council earlier vetoed the bill which would take away the hammer and sickle from the WWII Victory Banner. “As the son of a War veteran, I can’t vote for the bill,” Sergey Minorov, speaker of the Federation Council, said before the vote. “If our elderly are against it, let’s respect their opinion.”
Alexander Kotenkov, the Russian president’s representative in the Federation Council, asked the Senators to “give up political insinuations and adopt the bill”. But the Senators did not relent.
The draft confirms the Victory Banner as the symbol of Russia’s victory in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War. Under the bill, the red flag which was raised on the Reichstag in Berlin on May 1, 1945, is the only official Victory Banner.
Copies of this Banner are to be used in all state ceremonies commemorating Russia’s victory in WWII.
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