Flag Day in Russia: How to make a tricolor for the president

On August 22, Russia marks Flag Day. On it, new white-blue-red flags are unfurled at the building housing the Kremlin Executive Office. The tricolor flags for the Kremlin and the Government House are made by a special company, Megaflag, which has been in the flag-making business since 1991.

“A year ago, we made a cross street banner, which was displayed during the Russia vs. England match in the European football championships. It measured 120 by 80 meters and weighed 700 kilograms,” Sergei Kravchenko, production head at Megaflag, told RIA Novosti.

There are two ways of making a flag. The first – full-color digital printing – enables the image to be applied to the fabric at once. The second method is called “sublimation”, or vacuum thermal printing: ink is applied to paper and then transferred to the fabric under pressure and at a high temperature. The resulting color is deep and fast.

The size standard used in making flags is “two by three.” Only the Russian president’s banner is square in shape.

The white-blue-red flag was hoisted for the very first time on the first Russian man-of-war Orel during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich (1645-1676). On January 20, 1705, Peter the Great issued a decree ordering all merchant ships to fly the white-blue-red flag.

Historians say that the white stands for nobleness; the blue for honesty; and the red for the bravery and kindness of the Russian people.

In contemporary Russian history, the white-blue-red flag appeared on August 22, 1991. It was officially raised over the Government House for the first time, replacing the red flag with the hammer and sickle.