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RUSSIAN STATE SYMBOLS
 
 


   RUSSIAN STATE INSIGNIA

   As a state symbol two-headed eagle first appeared in Russia, those times Moscovia, in the XVth century. It came from Byzantium with Sophia Paleologue, member of the last Byzantine Emperor dynasty, who became the wife of Ivan III, the Great Duke of Moscow.

 

   Two-headed eagle remained the symbol of the Russian Monarchy and the Russian State for more than four hundred years, till the October Revolution of 1917, and regained its status in 1993 according to the order of President Boris Yeltsin of November 30, 1993.
   There are different interpretations of this symbol. The most common version says that two heads of the eagle symbolize that Russia consists of two parts - European and Asian, and that they are of equal importance for the country.

 

   The State insignia survived some changes during the pre-revolutionary history of Russia, though these changes were not too much significant. When the old Rorik dynasty ended in the XVIIth century and Romanovs came to power, the two-headed eagle remained the symbol of Russia, though three crowns were added to its top. They were to embody the unity of the three nations - Russians, Ukrainians and Belorussians.

 

   The existing three-color Russian national flag was adopted by the Order of President Boris Yeltsin of December 11, 1993, replacing its Soviet-time red and blue predecessor. According to the Constitution, "the national flag of the Russian Federation consists of three equal horizontal stripes - white, blue and red'.
   This is for the third time this three-color flag has become the national symbol. The first ruler to introduce it was Peter the Great, who on January 20, 1705 ordered to raise this flag as a trade banner on all Russian ships on Moscow, Volga and Dvina rivers. In those times the lower red stripe symbolized the Earth, the blue stripe - the sky, and the upper white stripe meant the realms of the God. At the same time, according to the Russian tradition, white color meant nobility, blue - honesty, red - courage and love.

 

   In the XIXth century the three stripes on the flag were thought to embody the unity of three dominant Slavic nations of the Russian State - Russians, Ukrainians and Belorussians. Beginning from the middle of the century the three-color flag gradually acquired the status of the national symbol. In 1856 during the Paris Congress, where the peace treaty to formalize the end of the Crimea war was negotiated, the red, blue and white banner was used as the national flag of the Russian Empire.
   But it still had to come through a tough competition with a black, yellow and white Emperor's banner, which was proclaimed the Russian national flag by the order of the Tsar Alexander II of June 11, 1858. For the following 25 years like throughout the entire XVIIIth century the red, blue and white flag was used only as a trade streamer. But after Alexander II was assassinated, the new Emperor, Alexander III, reconsidered the matter. Before the Coronation ceremony the Interior Minister Count Tolstoy submitted both flags for the Emperor's consideration, and Alexander chose the red, blue and white one. So, this banner regained the status of the national flag and retained it till the October Revolution of 1917.
   After the Revolution it was replaced by the Soviet Red Banner. Russian Federation, as the part of the USSR, got its own flag, which was, however, very much alike - red with a thin blue vertical stripe, and gold star, hammer and sickle in the upper left corner. Only 76 years later the old three-color flag became again the national flag of the Russian Federation.