Flag of Belarus

Belarus

Use	National flag and ensign
Proportion	1:2
Adopted	June 7, 1995 (original design with a thinner ornament pattern) February 10, 2012 (current (above) design with a thicker ornament pattern)
Design	A horizontal bicolor of red over green in a 2:1 ratio, with a red ornamental pattern on a white vertical stripe at the hoist.
Variant flag of Belarus
Use	Presidential Standard
Design	The national flag shortened to 5:6 ratio with the national emblem in gold.
Variant flag of Belarus
Name	Бел-чырвона-белы сцяг ("The White Red and White Flag")
Use	since 1918 (Belarusian Democratic Republic and Rada BNR in exile), unofficially in West Belarus until 1939, unofficially between 1942 and 1944 (during German occupation), officially in 1991-1995 Still often used by government opposition groups.
Proportion	1:2
Adopted	1918 September 9, 1991
Design	A horizontal triband of white, red and white
Designed by	Kłaŭdzi Duž-Dušeŭski

The national flag of Belarus (Belarusian: Сцяг Беларусі, Sciah Bielarusi; Russian: Флаг Беларуси, Flag Belarusi) is a red and green flag with a white and red ornament pattern placed at the staff (hoist) end. The current design was introduced in 2012 by the State Committee for Standardization of the Republic of Belarus, and is adapted from a design approved in a referendum in May 1995. It is a modification of the 1951 flag used while the country was a republic of the Soviet Union. Changes made to the Soviet-era flag were the removal of symbols of communism (the hammer and sickle and the red star) and the reversal of the colors of the ornament pattern, from white-on-red to red-on-white. Since the 1995 referendum, several flags used by Belarusian government officials and agencies have been modeled on this national flag.

This design replaced the historical white-red-white flag used by the Belarusian People's Republic of 1918, before Belarus became a Soviet Republic, and again after it regained its independence in 1991. Opposition groups have continued to use this flag, though its display in Belarus has been restricted by the government of Belarus, which claims it was linked with Nazi collaboration during the Second World War. The white-red-white flag is used in protests against the government and by the Belarusian diaspora.

The basic design of the national flag of Belarus was first described in Presidential Decree No.214 of June 7, 1995. The flag is a rectangular cloth consisting of two horizontal stripes: a red upper stripe covering two-thirds of the flag's height, and green lower stripe covering one-third. A vertical red-on-white Belarusian decorative pattern, which occupies one-ninth of the flag's length, is placed against the flagstaff. The flag's ratio of width to length is 1:2.