MOSCOW — Despite criticism that it will revisit yet more thorny tangles from Russia’s past, Parliament has passed a law to restore to religious organizations property seized by the state in Soviet times.

To leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church, the State Duma’s passage of the law last Friday was a major step toward justice. To critics, the law that was passed by 345 votes to 42 and is due to be signed by President Dmitri A. Medvedev, is a recipe for social unrest and a threat to cultural monuments.

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