After the Soviet Union broke down in 1991, the president of the newly-formed Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin, continued to use Patrioticheskaya Pesnya as the country's national anthem. There were never any official words to this song. However, in 1990, the Russian SFSR adopted a composition by Mikhail Glinka, known as Patrioticheskaya Pesnya ( Патриоти́ческая пе́сня), as its state anthem. While the republics of the Soviet Union had their own anthems during this time, the Russian SFSR did not, instead using the Soviet national anthem. The lyrics were removed in 1953 after the death of Joseph Stalin, but a new set of lyrics were added in 1977. This was replaced by the State Anthem of the Soviet Union with Alexandrov's music and Mikhalkov's lyrics in 1944. Later that year, when the October Revolution happened, the Bolsheviks adopted a Russian translation of The Internationale, which became the national anthem of the Soviet Union when it was founded in 1922. God Save the Tsar! continued to be the national anthem until the February Revolution in March 1917, when an adaptation of the French national anthem, known as the Worker's Marseillaise ( Рабо́чая Марселье́за), was used for a short time. Its melody became used in classical music such as Beethoven's Wellington's Victory and Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. This anthem was used until 1833, when a new composition called God Save the Tsar! ( Бо́же, Царя́ храни́!) was chosen by Nicholas I, but did not became popular until 1837. In 1816, the Russian Empire adopted The Prayer of the Russians ( Моли́тва ру́сских), whose melody was that of the British anthem God Save the King. The earliest of these, called Let the Thunder of Victory Rumble! ( Гром побе́ды, раздава́йся!) was used in the late 18th to early 19th century. What is today the Russian Federation has had several different anthems over the years.

Soviet anthem