The current
Belarus flag was adopted officially on 7th June in the year 1995. The Belorussian citizens had cast their votes in favor of the modification of the incumbent
Belarus flag, after Belarus regained independence in 1991. The Government of Belarus decided to redesign the national flag of Belarus to replace the historical flag of Belarus. The earlier flag of Belarus was used from 1918 by the Belorussian People's Republic.
The Government of Belarus issued a decree on 7th June, 1995, which described the design of the new flag of Belarus. According to this decree, there are two horizontal stripes in the flag. The upper stripe covers two-third of the Belarus flag and it is red in color. The remaining one-third in the horizontal part is green in color. In the extreme left of the Belarus flag there is a vertical stripe with red and white ornamental designs. The vertical stripe covers one-ninth of the length of the Belarus flag.
The significance of the red and green colors in Belarus flag has been described in the decree. The red color refers to the color that was used at the Battle of Grunwald by the Belorussian army and also during Second World War by the Red Army while fighting Nazi Germany. The green color signifies the glorifying future of Belarus and also the abundance of forests in Belarus. No significance of the white color was mentioned in the decree.
According to the decree, the Belarus flag need to be hoisted daily from the following locations:
- Council of Ministers of Belarus
- National Assembly of Belarus
- Belarus Courts and administrative buildings of Belarus
- Government owned military bases or military ships
