Country Studies / National Flag of the Russian Federation
.docNational Flag of the Russian Federation
The music that you are hearing now is the current Russian National Anthem.
The current Russian National Flag, also known as the Imperial Flag, is their traditional flag and is more than 300 years old. The Emperor Tzar Peter the Great originally designed the flag for his fleet of ships after his mission to the Netherlands 1697 - 1698 to learn about ship building. By a Royal Decree of Tzar Peter the Great on the 20th of January 1705 the flag become the National Flag of all Russia.
The color of the stripes was then understood according to the ancient explanation of the universe ; on the bottom is a material world, higher are the skies, and the highest is the divine world. Later it began to symbolize the unity of the three Eastern Slavic Nations - Byelorussia, Ukraine and Russia.
From ancient times in Russia the three colors had special symbolic meaning ; the white stands for nobility and sincerity, the blue stands for truthfulness, commitment and purity, and red stands for bravery, valor and love.
The
flag was re-instituted on August 21, 1991 after the fall of the
Communist Government, and on the 25th of December 2000 under Russian
Federal Law " On the National Flag of Russia" was
adopted. T
his
document governs that the " National Flag" is a
rectangular banner, which consists of three equal horizontal stripes;
at the top consisting of a white stripe, the middle stripe is blue,
and the bottom strip is red. The Russians now consider their current
form of Government to be Democratic.
Meaning
of the colors:
White
~ symbolizes nobleness, freedom and greatness;
Blue
~ symbol of honor, and is still considered the color of the Mother of
God, Patroness of the Russian ground;
Red
~ symbolizes courage and magnanimity.
The Russian National Flag is still the official flag of the Trade Marine Fleet of Russia.
Russian Presidential Flag
The Russian Coat of Arms
The two-headed golden eagle served as the Russian Royal Imperial Coat of Arms since the 15th century when it was borrowed by Tsar Ivan the III from Bysanthy. The original color of the eagle was black. With the expansion of the Russian Empire the eagle was decorated with shields of conquered countries and regions. After the Socialist Revolution in 1917 the coat of arms was abandoned. Since 1991 when Russia restored its independence a number of attempts to adopt the coat of arms as the offical seal was undertaken. In 1994 the Russian Duma (governing body - Parliament) approved the coat of arms featuring the two-headed eagle as the official seal of Russia. The shield of "Saint George The Victor" (above left) is the symbol of the City of Moscow. Since the 15th century even without interruption the shield of Saint George has always been the coat of arms and symbol of the City of Moscow, capital of Russia.
Saint George the Victor is the patron saint of Russia and the patron saint for all Boy Scouts through out the world.