Flag of Russia

The flag of Russia () is a tricolor flag consisting of three equal horizontal fields: white on the top, blue in the middle and red on the bottom. The flag was first used as an ensign for Russian merchant ships and became official as the flag of the Tsardom of Russia in 1696. It remained in use until the establishment of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic in 1917. 
During the Soviet Union's existence, it used the flag with the red field with the golden hammer and sickle and the golden bordered red star on top. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the pre-revolutionary tricolor was re-introduced as the flag of the Russian Federation in 1991 in the 1:2 ratio. The Tsarist tricolor was fully restored in 1993 after the constitutional crisis as the current flag.
== Origin ==
thumb|212px|left|Practice fight of the Dutch Fleet in the honour of Tzar Peter the Great, 1697
Two accounts of the flag's origin connect it to the tricolor used by the Dutch Republic (the flag of the Netherlands).
The earliest mention of the flag occurs during the reign of Alexis I, in 1668, and is related to the construction of the first Russian naval ship, the frigate Oryol. According to one source, the ship's Dutch lead engineer Butler faced the need for the flag, and issued a request to the Boyar Duma, to "...ask His Royal Majesty as to which (as is the custom among other nations) flag shall be raised on the ship." The official response merely indicated that, as such issue is as yet unprecedented, even though the land forces do use (apparently different) flags, the tsar ordered that his (Butler's) opinion be sought about the matter, asking specifically as to the custom existing in his country.Flag T.H. Eriksen & R. Jenkins, Nation and Symbolism in Europe and America. Abingdon, 2007, p. 23
A different account traces the origins of the Russian flag to tsar Peter the Great's visits to Arkhangelsk in 1693 and 1694. Peter was keenly interested in shipbuilding in the European style, different from the barges ordinarily used in Russia at the time. In 1693, Peter had ordered a Dutch-built frigate from Amsterdam. In 1694 when it arrived, the Dutch red-white-and-blue banner flew from its stern.Robert K. Massie, Peter the Great, 160 (Modern Library Edition 2012) Peter decided to model Russia's naval flag after this banner by changing the sequence of colors.
The Dutch flag book of 1695 by Carel Allard, printed only a year after Peter's trip to Western Europe, describes the tricolor with a double-headed eagle bearing a shield on its breast, and wearing a golden crown over both of its heads.
==History==
The 1695 flag book by Carel Allard describes three flags used by the tsar of Muscovy: The tricolour with the double-headed eagle bearing a shield on its breast and wearing a golden crown over both of its heads, the tricolour with a blue saltire over it, and a third showing red and white quartering with a blue cross over all.
The Russian tricolour flag was adopted as a merchant flag at rivers in 1705. The choice of colors is significant in that they represent in order of priority, white for God, Blue for king and Red for people and/or country. These colors of the flag of Russia inspired the choice of the "Pan-Slavic colours" by the Prague Slavic Congress, 1848. Two other Slavic countries, Slovakia and Slovenia, have flags similar to the Russian one, but with added coats-of-arms for differentiation. On 7 May 1883, the Russian flag was authorized to be used on land, and it became an official National flag before the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II in 1896.
The flag continued to be used by the Russian Provisional Government after the Tsar was toppled in the February Revolution and was not replaced until the October Revolution which established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. 
From that time period, a 1:2 red flag featuring the abbreviated name "RSFSR" ("РСФСР") was used, until replaced in 1954 with the universal design of the Soviet flag with a blue stripe along the mast. During the Second World War the white-blue-red tricolor has been used by the collaborationist anti-Stalinist troops of Andrey Vlasov, who was allied with Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union.Lilia Shevtsova: Putin's Russia. Carnegie Endowment, 2010. p. 114Kathleen E. Smith: Mythmaking in the New Russia: Politics and Memory During the Yeltsin Era. Cornell University Press, 2002. p. 160
It was not until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 that the tricolor was brought back as the official flag of the new Russian Federation. The modern era flag underwent a proportion change in 1993 and has been official since 2000. The National Flag Day is an official holiday in Russia, established in 1994. It is celebrated on 22 August, the day of the victory over putschists in 1991, but employees remain at work.
==Symbolism==
 
There are varying interpretations as of to what the colors on the Russian flag mean. The most popular is as follows: The white color symbolizes nobility and frankness, the blue for faithfulness, honesty, impeccability and chastity, and red for courage, generosity and love.Государственный флаг России. Статья на сайте Политического консультативного центра
== Color specifications ==
Scheme 	White 	Blue 	Red
Pantone	White 	286C 	485C
RGB 	255-255-255 (#ffffff)	0-57-166 (#0039a6)Pantone 286 C	213-43-30 (#d52b1e)Pantone 485 C
HTML 	#FFFFFF 	#0039A6 	#D52B1E
==Variant versions==
A variant of the flag was authorized for private use by Tsar Nicholas II before World War I, adding the large state eagle on a yellow field (imperial standard) in a canton in the top left-hand corner. Or was never made the official state flag.
When the Bolsheviks took power in 1917, the tricolor design was discarded, and a definitive new flag of the SFSR (one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union) was introduced in 1954 (see flag of Russian SFSR), and this remained the republic's flag until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. All of the Soviet Republics' flags were created by introducing a small but noticeable change to the flag of the Soviet Union. For Russia, the change was an introduction of the left-hand blue band. The previous Soviet design was different, a plain red flag with different variants of the "RSFSR" abbreviation in the canton. Today, the Soviet flag is used by the supporters and members of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
The tricolor was used by the anticommunist forces during the Civil War called the White movement. It was continued to be used by White émigrés in various countries as the Russian flag. The tricolor was associated both in Soviet Russia as well as the Russian White emigre communities as symbolizing a traditional tsarist Orthodox Russia. It, as well as the naval ensign of the Imperial Russian Navy was used by anticommunist Russian troops under German command during the Second World War. Both flags can be seen inside a few Orthodox churches in the West established by the Russian communities. In the Soviet Union, this flag was used in films set in the prerevolutionary period and was seen as an historical flag, especially after the 1940s.
It, rather than the black-yellow-white color combination, was readopted by Russia on 22 August 1991. That date is celebrated yearly as the national flag day.
The President of Russia uses a Presidential Standard (), which is officially defined as the tricolor with the Coat of Arms (at this case the two-headed eagle is depicted without the shield) in the middle.
During the annual Victory Day celebrations in Moscow, a variant of the Soviet flag that was used during the raising a flag over the Reichstag has the grey hammer and sickle, referred to as the Victory Banner. Under the presidency of Boris Yeltsin, an earlier version of the Victory Banner was red with just a golden star on the top.
==Military flags==
St. Andrew's flag () has a white background with two blue diagonal bands, forming a saltire cross associated with St. Andrew. The ratio of the flag's width to its length is 2:3, the width of the blue band is the length of the flag.
==Historical flags==
==Gallery==
File:Flag at Russian Consulate-General in Edinburgh.jpg|The tricolor at Russian Consulate-General in Edinburgh
File:MoscowParade2009 3.jpg|The tricolor and the Banner of Victory on the 2009 Moscow Victory Day Parade
File:RussianBear.JPG|Football fans with a gigantic Go Russia! banner, featuring the Russian Bear on the foreground of the tricolor
File:Osaka07 D4A Isinbayeva Celebrating.jpg|Yelena Isinbayeva, a pole vault record holder, celebrating her 2007 World Championships win
File:Beriew Be-200 at MAKS-2009.jpg|Beriev Be-200 dropping water painted into the national colors at the 2009 MAKS Airshow
File:2010 Moscow Victory Day Parade-40.jpeg|The flag in the sky over the Moscow Kremlin on the 2010 Moscow Victory Day Parade
File:St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral interior.jpg|Flag over coffin of Anton Denikin in New York City, this was used as the Russian flag by White émigrés abroad during the Soviet period.
File:Flagga - Sjöhistoriska museet - O 04933.jpg|Russian naval flag of the 74-gun ship Vladislav captured at the battle of Hogland in 1788
File:Flag of Russia - Jean Vanier CSS, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.jpg|Tricolor flag hanging in a ceiling of a local high school in Toronto, Canada as part of an international flag display.
File:Bandera Federación Rusia, 2016.gif|Russian flag in Peterhof
==See also==
* Coat of arms of Russia
* Flags of the federal subjects of Russia
* Russian Navy Ensign
* Flag of the Russian SFSR
* Flag of the Soviet Union
* Coat of arms of Moscow
* List of Russian flags
* Pan-Slavic colors
==References==
==External links==
* Official image of the Russian flag, on the official site of the Russian President.
* Text of the constitutional law about the flag. (initial variant, without amendments)
* Timeline Russian National Flag.
* Flag of Russia - old link
* Flag of Russia - Vexillographia
* Flag of Russia
* National Flag and Naval Ensign in Russia Navy.
Russia
Category:National symbols of Russia