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Sergey MikhalkovSergey Vladimirovich Mikhalkov (born March 13, 1913) is a Russian lyricist and author of children's books who has had the opportunity to write his country's national anthem on two different occasions. As a 29-year-old in 1942, Mikhalkov's work drew the attention of the Soviet Union's dictator Joseph Stalin, who commissioned him to write lyrics for a new national hymn. At the time, the country was deeply embroiled in World War II and Stalin wanted a Russian theme for the national anthem, to replace the Internationale. Mikhalkov penned words to accompany a musical score by the composer Alexander Alexandrov (1883-1946) that became known as National Anthem of the Soviet Union or the "Hymn". The new anthem was presented to Stalin in the summer of 1943 and was introduced as the country's new anthem on January 1, 1944. It continued in that role until 1991, when the Soviet anthem was retired by President Boris Yeltsin after the USSR broke up. However, when Vladimir Putin took over for Yeltsin in 2000, he began to clamor for a restoration of Alexandrov's stirring music in place of Yeltsin's choice, which most Russians found uninspiring. Mikhalkov was 87 years old by this time and long since retired; in fact, he is better known in modern Russia (or rather - by the new generation of Russians) as the father of popular film makers Nikita Mikhalkov and Andrey Konchalovsky - who had dropped part of his name "Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky" when he left Russia. But when Putin's push to restore the old anthem began to pick up momentum, he picked up his pen once again, and wrote new lyrics to go with Alexandrov's score. The result was the National Anthem of Russia, which was officially adopted in 2001. He currently lives in Moscow, and on his 90th birthday in 2003, Putin personally visited him at his home to present him with the 2nd class Order For Service to Fatherland, citing him for his contributions to Russian culture. Mikhalkov, Sergey Mikhalkov, Sergey
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