Russian flag

Russian Federation

Name	Триколор Trikolor Tricolor
Use	Civil and state flag, civil and state ensign
Proportion	2:3
Adopted	11 May (29 April O.S.) 1696 (Originally de jure) 1700 (de facto for vessels) 1883 (de facto for land use) 12 August 1991 (de facto as flag of post-soviet Russia) 11 December 1993 (flag of RF)
Design	A horizontal tricolour of white, blue and red
Variant flag of Russia
Use	Presidential Standard
Proportion	1:1
Adopted	1993
Design	A tricolor defaced with the double-headed eagle
Variant flag of Russia
Proportion	2:3
Design	Same as the colors above, but specified by the Government's website.
Name	Андреевский флаг Andreyevsky flag St. Andrew Flag
Use	Naval ensign
Adopted	1992 (originally adopted in 1720)
Design	White with a blue saltire.
Flag of the Soviet Union (1980-1991)
Name	The Red Banner
Use	Historical, occasionally in use including the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and during the Victory Day parade.
Proportion	1:2
Adopted	12 November 1923 (original version) 15 August 1980 (last version used) Relinquished on 26 December 1991 as national flag.
Design	A plain red flag with a golden hammer and sickle and a gold-bordered red star in its upper canton.

The flag of Russia is a tricolor flag consisting of three equal horizontal fields: white on the top, blue in the middle and red on the bottom. The flag was first used as an ensign for Russian merchant ships and became official as the flag of the Tsardom of Russia in 1696. It remained in use until the establishment of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic in 1917.

During the Soviet Union's existence, it used the flag with the red field with the golden hammer and sickle and the golden bordered red star on top. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the pre-prevolutionary tricolor was re-introduced as the flag of the Russian Federation in 1991 in the 1:2 ratio. The Tsarist tricolor was fully restored in 1993 after the constitutional crisis as the current flag.

Two accounts of the flag's origin connect it to the tricolor used by the Dutch Republic (the flag of the Netherlands).

The earliest mention of the flag occurs during the reign of Alexis I, in 1668, and is related to the construction of the first Russian naval ship, the frigate Oryol. According to one source, the ship's Dutch lead engineer Butler faced the need for the flag, and issued a request to the Boyar Duma, to "...ask His Royal Majesty as to which (as is the custom among other nations) flag shall be raised on the ship." The official response merely indicated that, as such issue is as yet unprecedented, even though the land forces do use (apparently different) flags, the tsar ordered that his (Butler's) opinion be sought about the matter, asking specifically as to the custom existing in his country.