The lyrics present great similarities, all having mentions to Vladimir Lenin (and most, in their initial versions, to Joseph Stalin), to the guiding role of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and to the brotherhood of the Soviet peoples, including a specific reference to the friendship of the Russian people (the Estonian, Georgian and Karelo-Finnish anthems were apparently an exception to this last rule).
Most of these anthems were replaced during or after the dissolution of the USSR; Belarus, Kazakhstan (until 2006), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan (until 1996), and Uzbekistan kept the melodies, but with different lyrics.
Accordingly, Latvia,[2] Lithuania,[3] Ukraine,[4][5][6] and Estonia have banned those anthems amongst other things deemed to be symbols of fascism, socialism, communism, and the Soviet Union and its republics.
[7] In contrast to this treatment of the symbolism, promotion of fascist, communist and other totalitarian ideology remains illegal.
Those laws do not apply to the anthems of Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan which have used the melody with different lyrics.