The combination of colours on the Russian flag (white, blue and red), he says, is the most elegant and widespread in the heraldry. The correct use of the national flag is an element of culture. Mr Vilinbakhov is against using the term "tricolour" in relation to the Russian flag, as it is mostly used to describe the French flag. He prefers the term "a three-coloured flag".
Tsar Peter the Great made the three-coloured flag into significant. Since then, the whole world has seen it as a symbol of Russia. According to Mr Vilinbakhov, official documents on the national flag contain no interpretation of this combination of colours, and there cannot be any. Explanations can only be found in folk legends and historical anecdotes. Hence, according to one version, the Russian flag is a scheme for identifying the opposing forces in the Civil War: the White forces on the one side, the Red forces on the other, and the Volga in between.
When asked how August 22 should be marked, the King of Arms found it difficult to answer. "I don't even know how such days are marked in other countries, for example in Sweden. Perhaps, they simply hang them out everywhere, and that's it."
