Sergey Vladimirovich Mikhalkov entered the world on the 27th of August 1913 within a noble family in Moscow. He grew up during a time of immense political upheaval that shaped his future career choices.
His poem about Uncle Styopa achieved particular fame among Soviet youth as a character who rescued cats stuck in trees and performed other helpful deeds. The poems remained enduringly popular throughout the Soviet era.
Joseph Stalin himself commissioned him to write lyrics for a new national anthem while World War II raged across Europe. They presented their work to Stalin in the summer of 1943 before it officially became the country's song on the 1st of January 1944.
The lyrics mentioning him by name were discarded during de-Stalinization following Stalin's death in 1953. These revised lyrics did not reach the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet until the 27th of May 1977 when approval came on the 1st of September.
Mikhalkov and his wife Natalia Konchalovskaya sometimes worked for the KGB and presented undercover officers to foreign diplomats including French ambassador Maurice Dejean who was compromised in the 1950s. His younger brother Mikhail also served as a notable writer and KGB agent.
The National Anthem of Russia officially adopted on the 30th of December 2000 after Vladimir Putin took office in 2000. Mikhalkov decided to write new lyrics for Alexandrov's score when Putin's push gained momentum while he was eighty-seven years old.