Flag of Russia

The flag of Russia has three horizontal stripes of the same size: white, blue and red. It was born more than three hundred years ago, disappeared for almost all of the 20th century and came back in 1991.

How it came about

The tricolour was born at sea. In the late 17th century Tsar Peter the Great wanted a modern navy, like those of Western Europe. In 1693 he had a white, blue and red flag with a double-headed eagle in the centre hoisted on one of his ships.

It is often said that Peter copied the Dutch flag, which he visited to learn how to build ships, and only swapped the colours round. That is a popular tradition, not a proven fact: as early as 1668 there are records of a Russian ship with a similar flag. What is documented is that in 1705 the tsar ordered all Russian merchant ships to carry the tricolour.

How it has changed

Russia has changed flags every time it has changed regime.

1. 

   1705-1858

   Peter the Great makes it the flag of Russian merchant ships.

2. 

   1858-1896

   Tsar Alexander II chooses black, yellow and white for the state, the colours of his family’s coat of arms. Ships and ordinary people keep using the tricolour.

3. 

   1896-1917

   Nicholas II declares it the only official flag of Russia.

4. 

   1918-1954

   After the October Revolution, Soviet Russia adopts a red flag with its initials in Cyrillic letters next to the flagpole.

5. 

   1954-1991

   Russia is one of the republics of the Soviet Union. Its flag is the Soviet one with a blue stripe next to the flagpole.

6. 

   1991

   In August 1991 the tricolour comes back. In December 1993 its current form is fixed, a little less elongated than in 1991.

What it means

Russian law does not explain what the colours mean. There are several readings, but none is official today:

• White

  in the times of Tsar Alexander III it was said to stand for nobility and sincerity.

• Blue

  fidelity and honesty.

• Red

  valour, generosity and love.

• All three together

  in 1848 a congress of Slavic peoples meeting in Prague took these colours as a symbol of the Slavs. That is why they are repeated on the flags of Slovakia, Slovenia and Serbia.

Fun facts

1. The oldest one is in a museum

   The first Russian tricolour that survives is the one that flew in 1693 on the yacht Saint Peter. It carries a double-headed eagle and is kept in the Central Naval Museum in Saint Petersburg.

2. A sketch by the tsar himself

   In 1699 Peter the Great drew a flag of three white, blue and red stripes on the back of some instructions he was sending to his ambassador in Istanbul.

3. It has its own day

   Since 1994, every 22 August is Flag Day, in memory of the day in 1991 when the tricolour became official again. It is not a public holiday: people work as normal.

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