National Flag of Russia
Country: Russian Federation
Proportions: 2:3
Russian Flag Description:
The flag of Russia consists of three equal-sized horizontal stripes. The top stripe is white, the middle one is blue and the bottom stripe is red.
Russian Flag Meaning:
The design of the Russian flag is based on the flag of the Netherlands.
Russian Flag History:
The current Russian flag was adopted on August 21, 1991 just before the country became an independent state and member of the United Nations on December 26, 1991. Most historians trace the origin of Russia's flag to Peter the Great's visit to the Netherlands in 1699. He went there to learn about shipbuilding and saw the need for Russia to have a naval flag too. He designed the Russian flag similar to the flag of the Netherlands, but with Russian colors. His design was used as a Russian maritime flag for merchant ships in 1799 and was adopted as the civil flag of Russia in 1883. After the Russian Revolution in 1917 the flag was replaced with one that had yellow emblems in it. Russia became a member of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics. When Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 the Russian flag was re-adopted.
Interesting Russian Flag Facts:
There have been rumblings of a flag change in Russia over the past few years and most of the designs are based on the color red as it is a national color of Russia. As of October 2004 nothing had materialized.
In Russia the shade of blue used on the flags often varies from a light sky blue to a dark blue.
