Flag of Russia

Russian Federation

The white-blue-red tricolor was restored after the fall of the Soviet Union and fixed in its current 2:3 proportions by decree in 1993, then confirmed by federal law in 2000. The colors trace back to Peter the Great.

Russian Federation (1991 transitional)

When Russia re-adopted the historic tricolor in 1991 the first version used a slightly lighter shade and longer 1:2 proportions, before the design was standardized two years later.

Soviet Union

The red banner with a gold hammer, sickle, and star symbolized the union of workers and peasants. It flew over the USSR for nearly seven decades until the country dissolved in December 1991.

Russian SFSR within the USSR:

1954–1991

Russian SFSR

Russia itself was one republic inside the union. From 1954 it flew the Soviet flag with a light-blue band at the hoist to distinguish it from the all-union banner.

Far Eastern Republic

A nominally independent buffer state created by Soviet Russia in 1920 to avoid direct war with Japan, which occupied parts of the Russian Far East during the Civil War. Its red flag bore a blue canton lettered "DVR." Once Japanese forces withdrew in 1922, the republic dissolved itself into Soviet Russia.

Russian Empire (imperial colors)

Decreed by Alexander II in 1858, the black-yellow-white flag drew on the heraldic colors of the imperial coat of arms. It served as the official state flag for nearly four decades before the tricolor was restored.

Tsardom of Russia (Petrine tricolor)

Peter the Great introduced the white-blue-red tricolor in the 1690s for the merchant fleet, modeled on the Dutch flag. Restored again in 1896, it is the direct ancestor of the modern Russian flag.

Tuvan People's Republic

A nominally independent Soviet-aligned state in southern Siberia that was quietly annexed into the USSR in 1944.

Confederated Republic of Altai

A short-lived attempt at an autonomous Altai state in the Russian Civil War's Siberian chaos.

Uryankhay Krai

The Russian protectorate over Tuva, between Mongolia and Siberia, before the Tuvan People's Republic.

Kuban People's Republic

An anti-Bolshevik Cossack state on the Kuban river; its blue-raspberry-green bands stood for Cossacks, non-Cossack residents, and highlanders.

Don Republic

The Don Cossack state's blue-yellow-red tricolor stood for the Don Cossacks, Kalmyks, and Russian non-Cossack residents during the Russian Civil War.

Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus

Green and white stripes with a blue canton bearing seven stars for the seven main highland peoples of the North Caucasus.

North Caucasian Emirate

A short-lived theocratic emirate under Uzun Hajji spanning Chechnya and Dagestan during the Russian Civil War; its green flag bears three white stars above a crescent.

Far Eastern Republic

A nominally independent buffer state the Bolsheviks set up across Siberia to avoid war with Japan; once the Japanese withdrew, it was absorbed into Soviet Russia.

Tuvan People's Republic

A tiny Soviet-aligned republic in southern Siberia, recognized only by the USSR and Mongolia; its famous triangular stamps were prized by collectors before the USSR annexed it in 1944.

Russian SFSR

The largest Soviet republic flew a red flag with a thin blue stripe down the hoist; the RSFSR was the core of the USSR and became the Russian Federation in 1991.

Kazan Khanate

A Tatar successor state of the Golden Horde on the Volga, conquered by Ivan the Terrible in 1552 — a turning point in Russia's eastward expansion.

Khanate of Sibir

The Turco-Mongol khanate beyond the Urals that gave Siberia its name; its conquest by the Cossack Yermak opened Russia's vast eastward expansion across Asia.

Khanate of Kazan

A Tatar successor state of the Golden Horde on the Volga; Ivan the Terrible's bloody siege and capture of Kazan in 1552 is commemorated by Moscow's St Basil's Cathedral.

Khanate of Astrakhan

A small Tatar khanate guarding the Volga delta and the Caspian trade, the last of the Golden Horde's successors, annexed by Ivan the Terrible four years after Kazan.

Golden Horde

The Mongol khanate that held the Russian principalities under the 'Tatar Yoke' for over two centuries; this white banner with a crescent appears on a 1339 Genoese map.

Idel-Ural State

A short-lived Tatar-Bashkir republic on the Volga proclaimed amid the Russian Revolution, crushed by the Bolsheviks within weeks of its declaration.

Green Ukraine

An attempt by Ukrainian settlers in the Russian Far East to form an autonomous state around the Amur and Pacific coast, suppressed by the Bolsheviks.