Flag of Belarus

What the flag of Belarus looks like

The national flag of Belarus has two horizontal bands. The upper band is red and takes up two-thirds of the height, and the lower band is green and takes up the remaining third. Along the hoist runs a white vertical stripe, as wide as one-ninth of the length of the flag, with a red ornamental pattern. The proportions of the whole flag are 1:2, so it is twice as long as it is high.

The pattern in the white stripe is a traditional Belarusian design of the type woven or embroidered on towels (rushnyk) and on folk clothing. It is made of repeated geometric elements, such as diamonds and stylized plants, in a vertical row. The pattern is red on white and is the only decoration on the flag, since the flag carries no coat of arms.

The flag looks different from most European flags because it does not use stripes of equal size and because of its folk ornament. A version of it is shown in the Belarus flag emoji, and a larger file is on the Belarus flag download page.

Belarus flag meaning and symbolism

There is no official interpretation of the colors. An explanation given by President Alexander Lukashenko is that red represents freedom and the sacrifice of the nation's forefathers, while green represents life. The red-on-white ornament at the hoist is a traditional Belarusian folk pattern, and it stands for the country's cultural heritage.

The 1995 decree and the later technical standard describe the colors and proportions in detail without setting out a meaning for each. Because the design comes from the Soviet period, its colors also reflect that history: red over green was used for the republic's flag from 1951, when red stood for the Revolution and green for the Belarusian forests.

History of the Belarus flag

In the 20th century Belarus had several flags. The short-lived Belarusian People's Republic of 1918 used a white-red-white flag, with a red horizontal stripe between two white ones. Under Soviet rule, the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic first used red flags and later, from 1951, a red-over-green design with a hammer and sickle and a star in the upper corner, with the ornament stripe at the hoist. The ornament was taken from a pattern designed in 1917 by Matrena Markevich, a folk craftswoman.

When Belarus became independent in 1991, it adopted the white-red-white flag as its national flag, together with a coat of arms showing a mounted knight (the Pahonia). In a referendum in May 1995, voters approved a new flag, and it was officially introduced in June of that year. It is the old Soviet-era flag with the hammer, sickle and star removed.

The design was changed in small ways later, including the details of the ornament, but the layout remains the same.

Why does Belarus have two flags?

The official national flag is the red and green one. The white-red-white flag, which was the flag in 1918 and again from 1991 to 1995, is still used by the opposition and by Belarusians abroad, and it was widely seen during the protests of 2020. The Belarusian government has prohibited its display, saying it is linked with collaborators who used it during World War II. Many supporters say it is a historical national flag. Both flags are therefore in use, with different meaning for different groups.