Belarus Flag

The current national flag of Belarus (Belarusian: Сцяг Беларусі, Sciah Bielarusi; Russian: Флаг Беларуси, Flag Belarusi) is a red and green flag with a white and red ornament pattern placed at the staff (hoist) end. The current design was introduced in 2012 by the State Committee for Standardization of the Republic of Belarus, and is adapted from a design approved in a referendum in May 1995. It is a modification of the 1951 flag used while the country was a republic of the Soviet Union. Changes made to the Soviet-era flag were the removal of symbols of communism (the hammer and sickle and the red star) and the reversal of the colors of the ornament pattern, from white on red to red on white. Since the 1995 referendum, several flags used by government officials and agencies were modeled from the national flag.

This design replaced the historical white-red-white flag used by the Belarusian People's Republic of 1918, before Belarus became a Soviet Republic, and again after it regained its independence in 1991. Opposition groups have continued to use this flag, though its display in Belarus has been restricted by the government of Belarus, which claims it was linked with Nazi collaboration during the Second World War. The white-red-white flag is used in protests against the government and by the Belarusian diaspora.

The basic design of the national flag of Belarus was first described in Presidential Decree No.214 of June 7, 1995. The flag is a rectangular cloth consisting of two horizontal stripes: a red upper stripe covering two-thirds of the flag's height, and green lower stripe covering one-third. A vertical red-on-white Belarusian decorative pattern, which occupies one-ninth of the flag's length, is placed against the flagstaff. The flag's ratio of width to length is 1:2.

The flag does not differ significantly from the flag of the Byelorussian SSR, other than the removal of the hammer and sickle and the red star, and the reversal of red and white in the hoist pattern. While there is no official interpretation for the colors of the flag, an explanation given by President Alexander Lukashenko is that red represents freedom and the sacrifice of the nation's forefathers, while green represents life.

In addition to the 1995 decree, "STB 911–2008: National Flag of the Republic of Belarus" was published by the State Committee for Standardization of the Republic of Belarus in 2008. It gives the technical specifications of the national flag, such as the details of the colors and the ornament pattern. The red ornament design on the national flag was, until 2012, 1/12 the width of the flag, and 1/9 with the white margin. As of 2012, the red pattern has occupied the whole of the white margin (which stayed at 1/9th).

Originally part of Kievan Rus, Belarus was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until the Polish Partitions in the 18th century. After over a hundred years of Russian rule followed by seven decades as a constituent republic of the USSR, Belarus attained its independence in 1991. However, under authoritarian rule of Alexander Lukashenko (since 1994), it has retained closer political and economic ties to Russia than any of the other former Soviet republics. Belarus and Russia signed a treaty on a two-state union on 8 December, 1999, envisioning greater political and economic integration. Although Belarus agreed to a framework to carry out the accord, serious steps towards implementation have seen limited success. The economy is completely dependent on Russia, and the Belarusian government is open to western government and people stance (if they are open minded and have good goals). The country has not seen much structural reform in the past few years. Political and journalistic activity is tightly controlled. The country was the most developed republic (excluding the three Baltic states) in the former USSR, the country has a lot of remains from its socialist past and can not be regarded as materialistically backwards