Oleg Smekhov, a 48-year-old Moscow businessman, said the Soviet anthem is still linked to his memories of great sports victories. The country should have an anthem that everyone knows and can be proud of.' We have lost many things from the past, but we remember the tune of the old anthem. Maybe they wanted to deprive us of patriotism. 'Nobody remembers the melody of the Glinka music,' said Nina Karacheva, an editor in a Moscow publishing company. The praise to Stalin was edited out after his death, but the anthem continued to promote the class struggle: 'Oh, Party of Lenin, the strength of the people, to Communism's triumph lead us on!'ДЄ growing number of Russians say the Soviet melody should be adopted as Russia's anthem, with new words written to replace the Communist rhetoric. 'Be true to the people, thus Stalin has reared us,' it proclaimed. When the Soviet anthem was written in 1943, at the peak of the Second World War as the Red Army was fighting the Nazis at Stalingrad, the anthem was given a heavily Stalinist spin. Something will have to be done about those Soviet lyrics, however. 22.ДЄccording to an opinion poll last month, almost 40 per cent of Russians support the Soviet tune, far more than the 15 per cent who prefer the existing Russian anthem, a forgettable opera song written in 1833 by Mikhail Glinka. Although he has not publicly stated his views, he has appointed a commission to study possible anthems and make a recommendation by Nov. President Vladimir Putin is believed to be another powerful backer of the Soviet anthem. 'From the standpoint of its melody, the USSR's national anthem was stirring and easy to remember.' 'The national anthem is a tune that should stir the country's citizens and make them tingle,' Mr. Kasyanov, who is today the country's Prime Minister, is one of the growing number of influential Russian leaders who look favourably on the Soviet hymn.