Under the law's old wording, the official banner displayed on VE Day parades should have been without the hammer and sickle. The State Duma passed the law April 6 and later overturned the veto of the upper house, leaving the presidency as the only institution having authority to ban the law.
Russian President Vladimir Putin vetoed the law Friday. In a letter to the speakers of both houses of parliament, following a Friday meeting with WWII veterans, Putin urged "additional consultations" citing "complaints from veterans' associations".
Deputy Mikhail Babich said Wednesday: "The only aim in the adoption of new wording is to perpetuate the memory of the Soviet people's victory in the Great Patriotic War [WWII]. There are no other motives, including political."
