Russian Flag

Russian Flag

Russian Flag

The world's largest country in terms of area, Russia was once the biggest and most powerful of all of the Soviet socialist republics that made up the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.). Russia became an independent country in 1991, when the U.S.S.R. was dissolved. Administratively, Russia includes 21 republics (each with their own flag), six krays (territories), 10 okrugs (national areas), 49 oblasts (regions), 1 autonomous oblast, and 2 cities with federal status.

It is said that Czar Peter the Great adopted a form of the Dutch flag during an incognito visit to the Netherlands in 1697, albeit rearranging the order of the colors to create the Russian flag. The white band is said to represent God, the blue band the czar, and the red band the people, the blue stripe of the czar being below God but above the people. Another interpretation is that these were originally the colors of Moscow. Since the 19th century, the colors have been used by many Eastern European nations and have become known as the Pan-Slavic colors. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, the communist regime abolished all former flags, replacing them with the 'Red Flag' of the Soviet Union. When it became independent in 1991, however, Russia readopted its traditional tricolor Russian flag.