Deputies of the State Duma as actors of the Russian politics of memory: the case of the federal law “On the days of military glory and commemorative dates of Russia”

The article contributes to the literature about the key actors of the Russian politics of memory, as public activity focused at promotion of specific interpretations of collective past. It takes the transformations of the federal law «On the days of military glory and commemorative dates of Russia» as a case for analysis of the role of the deputies of State Duma in constructing the infrastructure for commemorations of collective past. The case of this law was selected not only because of its role in establishing the official commemorative calendar, but also because the multiple amendments to this law provide a rich material for revealing the struggle of the Russian parliamentary parties for interpretation of the collective past in changing political context. The analysis was based on multiple versions of the law available in «Garant» database, information about the bills about amendments and transcripts of Duma’s proceedings available at its official website. The article follows the transformations of the law from 1995 till 2022. It characterizes mnemonic agendas of the parliamentary parties that are concerned with commemoration of specific types of historical events, and describes deputies as specific mnemonic actors, who have to take into account imperatives of electoral struggle and party ideologies. 

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