Coat of arms of Russia

Description and usage

The two main elements of Russian state symbols (the two-headed eagle and Saint George slaying the dragon) predate Peter the Great. According to the Kremlin's website:

Which is translated as:

The current coat of arms was designed by artist Yevgeny Ukhnalyov; it was adopted on 30 November 1993 by a presidential decree, and then by a federal law signed by President Vladimir Putin on December 20, 2000.

Today, the imperial crowns on each head stand for the unity and sovereignty of Russia, both as a whole and in its constituent republics and regions. The orb and scepter grasped in the eagle's talons are traditional heraldic symbols of sovereign power and authority. Of note is that the scepter shows the Droste effect, as it is topped by a miniature image of the coat-of-arms itself. They have been retained in the modern Russian arms despite the fact that the Russian Federation is not a monarchy, which led to objections by the Communists even though both the blue ribbon and the collar of the Order of St. Andrew (which in the imperial arms supported the three crowns and surrounded the central shield) have been removed from the current coat of arms.

It appears on the federal buildings and is on the cover of the national passport.

The standard of the president of Russia is a squared Russian tricolour defaced with the coat of arms of Russia, the banner of the Russian Armed Forces also has the coat of arms centered on the obverse side. Some state awards of Russia are also designed based on the coat of arms, including the State Prize. Russian ruble coins depict the coat of arms on the obverse side since 2016.

Differences between 1993 and 2000 descriptions

The description of the coat of arms of Russia in the Regulation of the same name, approved by the Decree of the President of Russia of November 30, 1993, No. 2050 "On the State Emblem of the Russian Federation," differs from the description of the coat of arms of Russia in the Federal Constitutional Law No. 2 of December 25, 2000 "On the State Emblem of the Russian Federation". However, both regulatory legal acts contain the same drawing of the state emblem by artist Yevgeny Ukhnalyov in their appendices.

Historical versions

The heraldic device of Russia has gone through three major periods in its history, undergoing major changes in the transitions between the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation. The use of the double-headed eagle as a Russian coat of arms goes back to the 15th century. With the fall of Constantinople and the end of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, the Grand Dukes of Muscovy came to see themselves as the successors of the Byzantine heritage, a notion reinforced by the marriage of Ivan III to Sophia Paleologue (hence the expression "Third Rome" for Moscow and, by extension, for the whole of Imperial Russia). Ivan adopted the golden Byzantine double-headed eagle in his seal, first documented in 1472, marking his direct claim to the Roman imperial heritage and posing as a sovereign equal and rival to the Holy Roman Empire. In 1497, it was stamped on a charter of share and allotment of independent princes' possessions. At about the same time, the image of a gilt, double-headed eagle on a red background appeared on the walls of the Palace of Facets in the Moscow Kremlin.

The other main Russian coat of arms, the image of St George slaying the dragon, is contemporaneous. In its first form, as a rider armed with a spear, it is found in the seal of Vasili I of Moscow in 1390. At the time of Ivan III, the dragon was added, but the final association with Saint George was not made until 1730, when it was described as such in an Imperial decree. Eventually, St George became the patron saint of Moscow (and, by extension, of Russia).

After the assumption of the title of Tsar by Ivan IV, the two coats are found combined, with the eagle bearing an escutcheon depicting St George on the breast. With the establishment of the Moscow Patriarchate in 1589, a patriarchal cross was added for a time between the heads of the eagle.

1721–1917: Russian Empire

1918–93: Soviet and post-Soviet Russia

Main article: Coat of Arms of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, State Emblem of the Soviet Union

The coat of arms of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) was adopted on 10 July 1918 by the government of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Soviet Union), and modified several times afterwards. It shows wheat as the symbol of agriculture, a rising sun for the future of the Russian nation, the red star (the RSFSR was the last Soviet Republic to include the star in its state emblem, in 1978) as well as the hammer and sickle for the victory of Communism and the "world-wide socialist community of states".

The Soviet Union state motto ("Workers of the world, unite!") in Russian ('Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь!' — ru) is also a part of the coat of arms.

The acronym of the RSFSR is shown above the hammer and sickle, and reads 'PCФCP', for "Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика" ().

Similar emblems were used by the Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republics (ASSR) within the Russian SFSR; the main differences were generally the use of the republic's acronym and the presence of the motto in the language(s) of the titular nations (with the exception of the state emblem of the Dagestan ASSR, which had the motto in eleven languages as there is no single Dagestani language).

The Soviet Union as a whole adopted its emblem in 1923, which remained in use until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Although it is technically an emblem rather than a coat of arms, since it does not follow traditional heraldic rules, in Russian it is called герб (ru), the word used for a traditional coat of arms. It was the first state insignia created in the style known as socialist heraldry, a style also seen in e.g. the Chinese national emblem.

The emblem shows the Soviet emblems of the Hammer and Sickle and the Red Star over a globe, in the center of a wreath wrapped in ribbons emblazoned with the communist motto ("Workers of the world, unite!") in the official languages of the Soviet republics with the Russian inscription in the centre, in the reverse order they were mentioned in the Soviet Constitution. Each Soviet Republic (SSR) and Autonomous Soviet Republic (ASSR) had its own coat of arms, largely inspired by the state emblem of the Union.

Four versions were used: 6 ribbons were used in 1923, which were written on in Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Georgian, Armenian, and Azerbaijani; 11 ribbons with the addition of Turkmen, Uzbek, Tajik, Kazakh, Kyrgyz; 16 with the addition of Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Moldavian, and Finnish. Finally, the inscriptions in Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Uzbek, Tajik, Kazakh and Kyrgyz were updated to reflect their transition from the Latin to the Cyrillic script. The final version of the emblem was adopted in 1956 with the removal of the Finnish inscription from the insignia, reflecting the 1956 transformation of the Karelo-Finnish SSR into the Karelian ASSR.

In 1992, the inscription was changed from RSFSR ('РСФСР') to the Russian Federation ('Российская Федерация') in connection with the change of the name of the state. In 1993, president Boris Yeltsin signed a decree to replace the Communist design by the present coat of arms.

Evolution

File:Печать Мстислава Владимирович XII век.svg|1094–1132: Seal of Mstislav I Monomakh File:Seal of Mstislav Mstislavich Udatny.png|1209–1227: Seal of Mstislav Mstislavich File:Печать Святослава Всеволодовича.JPG|1200–1252: Seal of Sviatoslav III of Vladimir File:Seal of Alexander Nevsky 1236.png|1236–1263: Seal of Alexander Nevsky (Theodore Stratelates slaying the giant serpent) File:Печать Иван Калита.JPG|1325–1340: Seal of Ivan I File:Печать Дмитрия-Донского 2 Reverse.svg|1359–1389: Seal of Dmitry Donskoy File:Печать Василия I Дмитриевича, 1389.svg|1389–1425: Seal of Vasily I File:Печать Василия II Васильевича Темного.svg|1425–1462: Seal of Vasily II File:Oreshnikov i Proris.jpg|1446–1447: Silver coin of Dmitry Shemyaka File:Seal of Ivan 3.png|1472–1502: Seal of Ivan III the Great File:Seal of Ivan 4 1539.svg|1539: Seal of Ivan IV the Terrible 1533–1584 File:Seal of Ivan 4 1577.png|1577: Greater seal of Ivan IV the Terrible 1533–1584 File:COA by Ivan IV of Russia 1577.png|1577: Coat of arms under Ivan IV 1533–1584 File:Russia03.gif|1584–1667: Coat of arms of the Tsardom of Russia File:Russian coa 1589 grozny.png|1584–1598: Seal of Feodor I File:Russian coa 1605 lzhe.png|1605: Seal of False Dmitry I File:Olearius seal MF.gif|1613–1645: Seal of Michael File:Olearius seal AM.gif|1645–1654: Seal of Alexis File:Novikov triple eagle.jpg|1654: Variant coat of arms under Alexis (after Pereiaslav Agreement) File:Russian-coa-1667.png|1667–1721: Coat of arms of the Tsardom of Russia File:Russian-coat-arm-1667.svg|1667–1721: Variant coat of arms of the Tsardom of Russia File:Печать Алексея Михаиловича, 1667 год.gif|1667–1676: Seal of Alexis File:Great Seal of the Tsardom of Russia in the early 18th century (retouched).jpg|1682–1696: Seal of Peter I File:Acta Eruditorum - III stemmi, 1708 – BEIC 13371326.jpg|1698–1699: Sketch of seal under Peter I (by ) File:«Арифметика» Магницкого 01.jpg|1703: Coat of arms under Peter I (published in the book Arithmetic) File:Московский герб. Henri Abraham Chatelain (1714-1720).jpg|1714–1720:Coat of arms under Peter I File:CoA of Russian Empire (1721).svg|1721–1725: Imperial coat of arms under Peter the Great File:Catherinecoa.gif|1725–1727: Imperial coat of arms under Catherine I File:Ekaterina I ruble.jpg|1725–1727: Silver ruble under Catherine I File:Государственный герб 1730.jpg|1727–1730: Imperial coat of arms under Peter II File:Coat of Arms of the Russian Empire 1730.png|1730–1798, 1801–1825: Imperial coat of arms under Anna, Ivan VI, Elizabeth, Peter III, Catherine the Great and Alexander I File:Rubl 1732.jpg|1730–1737: Silver ruble under Anna File:Rubl 1739.jpg|1737–1740: Silver ruble under Anna File:Іоан Антонович. Рубль 1741 року..jpg|1741: Silver ruble under Ivan VI File:Dondog-Dashi banner.jpg|1741–1762: Imperial coat of arms under Elizabeth File:Ryskt mynt av koppar med dubbelörn, 1780 - Skoklosters slott - 108161.tif|1758–1796: Copper coin of 5 kopecks under Elizabeth and Catherine the Great File:Maltese cross Russian coat of arms.jpg|1799–1801: Imperial coat of arms under Paul I File:Russian COA 1796 a.jpg|1799–1801: Variant coat of arms under Paul I File:Coat of Arms of the Russian Empire 1799-1801.png|1799–1801: Variant coat of arms under Paul I File:Lesser Coat of Arms of Russian Empire (1800-1802).svg|1799–1801: Variant coat of arms under Paul I File:Russian Empire-Full coat of arms.3.jpg|1800: The draft of the greater coat of arms presented to Paul I File:R2-kopeiki-1825-goda-300x300.jpg|1810–1830: Copper coin of 2 kopecks under Alexander I and Nicholas I File:Coat of arms of Russia in 1803-1830.gif|1803–1840: Variant of coat of arms under Alexander I and Nicholas I File:Russian COA 1825—55 B.jpg|1825–1828: Imperial coat of arms under Nicholas I File:5 kopek, 1833. Ryskt mynt - Skoklosters slott - 109914.tif|1830–1839: Copper coin under Nicholas I File:Russian COA 1825—55 A.jpg|1828–1856: Imperial coat of arms under Nicholas I File:Coat of Arms of Russian Empire (1876).jpg|1856–1882: Greater coat of arms under Alexander II File:Greater Coat of Arms of the Russian Empire 1856.jpg|1856–1882: Variant greater coat of arms under Alexander II File:Middle Coat of Arms of the Russian Empire 1856.jpg|1856–1882: Middle coat of arms under Alexander II File:Russian Coat of Arms 1856.png|1856–1882: Lesser coat of arms under Alexander II File:Greater Coats of Arms of the Russian Empire - The sketch of Adolf Sharleman (1882).jpg|1882–1917: Greater coat of arms under Alexander III and Nicholas II File:Middle Coat of Arms of the Russian Empire.png|1882–1917: Middle coat of arms under Alexander III and Nicholas II File:Lesser Coat of Arms of Russian Empire 2.png|1882–1917: Lesser coat of arms under Alexander III and Nicholas II File:Lesser coat of arms of the Russian Empire.svg|1882–1917: Variant lesser coat of arms under Alexander III and Nicholas II File:Russian coa 1917.svg|1917: Provisional Government/ Republican coat of arms File:Coat of arms of the Kolchak government (unofficial).png|1918–1920: Coat of arms of the Russian State File:3 rub Kolchak.jpg|1919: Banknote of 3 of the Russian State File:Coats of arms of the Russian SFSR (1918-1920).svg|1918–1920: 1st coat of arms of the Russian SFSR File:Emblem of the Russian SFSR (1920–1954).svg|1920–1954: 2nd coat of arms of the Russian SFSR File:Coat of arms of the Soviet Union 1923–1936.svg|1923–1931: 1st coat of arms of the Soviet Union (6 languages) File:Coat of arms of the Soviet Union (1931–1936).svg|1931–1936: 2nd coat of arms of the Soviet Union (7 languages) File:Coat of arms of the Soviet Union (1936–1946).svg|1936–1946: 3rd coat of arms of the Soviet Union (11 languages) File:Coat of arms of the Soviet Union (1946-1956).svg|1946–1955: 4th coat of arms of the Soviet Union (16 languages) File:Coat of arms of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1954-1978).svg|1954–1978: 3rd coat of arms of the Russian SFSR (without dividing points in Ru) File:State Emblem of the Soviet Union.svg|1956–1991: 5th coat of arms of the Soviet Union (15 languages) File:Emblem of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1978–1991), Emblem of the Russian Federation (1991–1992).svg|1978–1992: 4th coat of arms of the Russian SFSR (added a five-pointed star) File:Coat of arms of the Russian Federation (1992-1993).svg|1992–1993: Coat of arms of the Russian Federation after the dissolution of the Soviet Union File:Russia coat federal constitutional law.jpg|1993: Present coat of arms (official publication) File:Coat of Arms of the Russian Federation.svg|1993: Present coat of arms File:Coat of Arms of the Russian Federation 2.svg|1993: Present coat of arms (other variant) File:Coat of Arms of the Russian Federation bw.svg|1993: Present coat of arms (single-color version) File:Digital gerb russia max.svg|2017: Present digital coat of arms (with details) File:Digital gerb russia.svg|2017: Present digital coat of arms File:Emblem of the President of Russia.svg|2019: Present digital coat of arms used by the Kremlin office and the President of Russia

Notes

References

References

1. "Указ Президента России от 30.11.1993 № 2050 — Викитека".
2. [[:s:Федеральный конституционный закон от 25.12.2000 № 2-ФКЗ. О Государственном гербе Российской Федерации]]: Федеральный конституционный закон от 25.12.2000 № 2-ФКЗ // Собрание законодательства РФ. 2000. № 52. Ст. 5021.
3. "Государственный герб России как проблема исторического знания. — Геральдика.ру".
4. (2020). "Soil and Soul: The Symbolic World of Russians". Routledge.
5. "Герб".
6. "National Coat of Arms".
7. Ivanov, Dmitry. "Geral'dika segodnya {{!}}{{!}} Yevgeny Il'ich UKHNALYOV (1931–2015)".
8. The law of the Russian Federation from 21 April 1992 № 2708-I «[https://constitution.garant.ru/history/ussr-rsfsr/1978/zakony/183094/ About changes and additions of the Constitution (Basic law) of the Russian SFSR]»
9. (6 December 1993). "Is This the Symbol Russia Wants? : Yeltsin chooses the particularly inapt double-headed eagle. Why?".
10. (13 July 2014). "From Byzantium to present-day Russia, the double-headed eagle still soars".