DUMA APPROVES PRESIDENT-SUBMITTED BILL ON HYMN WORDS








MOSCOW, MARCH 7, RIA NOVOSTI -- The words of the national anthem to the lyrics of Sergei Mikhalkov are to be submitted for approval by the Federation Council after having been passed by the Duma in the third reading with 345:19 deputies in its favour and one abstainee whereas merely 300 votes were required.


	The president's representative in the State Duma, Alexander Kotenkov, called for no amendments to Mikhalkov's words on the grounds that there should be no intrusion into writer's literary work.


	Kotenkov referred to the word "God", which in the opinion of some deputies is present only in Christianity. "I disagree with such criticism as the word God exists in all religions be it Judaism or Islam or the Orthodox confession.