Flag of Novorossiya

Novorossiya

Use	National flag
Proportion	2:3
Adopted	31 May 2014
Variant flag of Novorossiya
Use	National flag
Proportion	2:3
Adopted	13 August 2014 (Proposed)
Variant flag of Novorossiya
Use	War flag
Proportion	2:3
Adopted	31 May 2014 (As national flag) 13 August 2014 (As battle flag)

The proposed flag of the defunct self-proclaimed confederation of Novorossiya (New Russia) is a variant of the battle flag which was adopted on 24 May 2014, with the addition of the coat of arms. A tricolor was presented on 13 August 2014 by Oleg Tsarev as a potential state flag. This resembled an upside-down Romanov flag, which was the national flag of the Russian Empire from 1858 to 1883. However, it has not seen widespread usage, and is seemingly unadopted.

Novorossiyia was an unrecognised confederation of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, claiming the territory of the respective Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. On 20 May 2015 the leadership of the Federal State of Novorossiya announced the 'freezing' of the confederation 'project'.

The battle flag appears to be based on the naval jack of the Russian Federation. Aleksandr Chalenko, who worked as a political journalist in Kiev, described the flag and explained its symbolism in an item published by Izvestia on 20 March 2014:

"It's a red flag with a blue Saint Andrew's cross. The flag of the Russian Navy. Of the Navy, which played a prominent military role in the emergence and establishment of the historical Novorossiya."

The flag bears a strong, striking resemblance to that of the Confederate States of America's navy jack and battle flag. However, Pavliv explains that he had simply stumbled upon the flag online somewhere, and that the leader of the New Russia Party, Pavel Gubarev, later picked it up. Gubarev has since stated that the inspiration for the flag came from "banners used by Cossacks who reclaimed the New Russian territories from Tatars and Turks for Russia in the 18th century"; however according to Alexey Eremenko of the Moscow Times, no Cossacks ever used a flag resembling the one chosen.