The national flag of Russia (Russian: Флаг России, romanized: Flag Rossii), also known as the State Flag of the Russian Federation (Russian: Государственный флаг Российской Федерации, romanized: Gosudarstvenny flag Rossiyskoy Federatsii), is a tricolour flag consisting of three equal horizontal fields: white on the top, blue in the middle, and red on the bottom. The flag was first used as an ensign for Russian merchant ships in 1696. It remained in use until 1858, when the first official flag of the Russian Empire was decreed by Alexander II, which was a tricolour consisting of three horizontal fields: black on the top, yellow in the middle, and white on the bottom. A decree in 1896 reinstated the white, blue, and red tricolour as the official flag of the Russian Empire until the Revolution of 1917. (Source: Wikipedia.org, CC BY-SA)