Flag of Lugansk People's Republic

The national flag of the Luhansk People's Republic is a rectangular panel of three equal horizontal stripes: the upper - blue, middle - blue and lower - red. The ratio of the width of the flag to its length is 2: 3 ^[3] .

The flag is built on a principle similar to the flag of the DPR , repeating, with the exception of the upper strip, the flag of Russia. Currently, the flag status is confirmed by the Law of the LPR on November 2, 2014 “On the State Flag of the Luhansk People's Republic”.

The colors of the flag of the Lugansk People’s Republic are determined by the Law on the State Flag of the Lugansk People’s Republic ^[4] .

Unlike the DPR, where the flag was generally determined long before the events of spring 2014 ^[5] , in the Lugansk region up to this time there were no significant separatist or autonomist movements advocating the creation of an independent state or autonomy specifically within the borders of the Lugansk region . The public organization Donetsk Republic , which led the protest movement in the Donbass, initially set the goal of reviving the statehood of the entire Donbass. The very word Donetsk in the name of the organization is a reference to the previously existing Donetsk-Krivorozhsky Soviet Republic, whose name comes from the Donetsk coal basin and, unlike the name of the Donetsk region, has nothing to do with the name of the city of Donetsk (Yuzovka). Thus, the proclamation of the DPR within the borders of the Donetsk region on April 7, 2014 created a certain hitch regarding the status of the Lugansk region, the definition of its leaders (all the leaders of the Donetsk republic automatically turned out to be the leaders of Donetsk, not Lugansk), as well as its symbols .

Only on April 27 (20 days after the proclamation of the DPR) was the Luhansk People's Republic proclaimed. At this time, various flags appeared simultaneously on social networks - unofficial applicants for the state symbol of the new republic. All these flags were invented by enthusiasts. They were based on 2 different approaches .

The first approach was based on the fact that the LPR is also part of the Donbass, it was also part of the Donetsk-Kryvyi Rih Republic, which the leaders of the Donetsk Republic attribute to the black-blue-red flag, and therefore the LPR has the right and should have the same black stripe on the flag , symbolizing the color of coal, as on the flag of the DPR. Therefore, in April 2014, black-blue-red tricolors, but with the inscription "Lugansk Republic" and completely different emblems on it, became widespread on the Internet in April 2014. .

The second option, which eventually became the most used and on which the current official flag is based, is connected with the consideration of the Lugansk region in the context of "big New Russia", and not just Donbass. In this regard, flags of other potential republics appeared ^[6] , which could become part of the future federal New Russia . All these flags were also invented by enthusiasts, some of them in illustrations from different people coincided (that is, they were borrowed from each other), some were different. In essence, these were simple variations of the flag of the DPR with the replacement of some attributes. A distinctive feature of this approach - tricolors were provided for all potential republics, but the colors on these tricolors did not have to match completely. Accordingly, for those conditional republics for which it was possible to single out a specific color symbolizing them, this color was used whenever possible. In most cases, these were colors taken from the symbols of the administrative centers of the respective regions (for example, pink for the Zaporizhzhya Republic , green for the Kharkov Republic , white and blue for the Kherson Republic , yellow for the Odessa Republic , blue with a purple tint for the Dnepropetrovsk Republic ) For the Luhansk Republic, a flag appeared with a blue stripe on top .

As a result, on the occasion of Victory Day on May 9, 2014, a decision on the official flag was not made by the leaders of the LPR. All this time since the start of the protests, the actual flag of the protesters was the Russian tricolor ^{[7] [8] [9]} . But in addition to it, by May 9, flags of the time with the St. George ribbon and flags with a blue, blue and red stripe, which had spread on the Internet, were also popular. In appearance, they did not differ much from the Russian flag, and therefore were well received by the population. The double-headed eagle was taken the same as on the coat of arms of Russia, only the color (gold to white) was replaced, as well as the image inside the shield in the center (the coat of arms of Lugansk instead of the coat of arms of Moscow) .

By the time of the referenda on the independence of the republics of Donbass, a new image of the flag of the DPR appeared, which was different from that used by the organization of the Donetsk Republic . The image of the double-headed eagle has undergone significant changes. This image was widely used on campaign posters in the DPR ^{[10] [11] [12]} . It (with slight changes) for some time spread on the Internet as a coat of arms on the future flag of the LPR ^{[13] [14]} . But this image of an eagle as a result did not become the emblem of either the DNI or the LC.

After a referendum on the status of the Luhansk region was held on May 11, militias tried to hold a contest for the flag of the LPR ^[13] . But in the end, the flag was never selected, and in fact until November 2014, the flag continued to be used, presented on May 9 or its variation - the flag of the same colors, but with the inscription "New Russia" ^[15] .

For the first time, the flag of LPR was hoisted on April 30, 2014 over the building of the Executive Committee in the city of Alchevsk. The second time it was presented to the public on May 9, 2014 during a rally on the occasion of Victory Day in Lugansk . The flag was a tricolor of blue, blue and red horizontal stripes. The emblem was depicted in the center of the flag - a two-headed eagle with the emblem of Lugansk on the chest ^[3] , above and below, on the blue and red stripes, the words "Lugansk" and "Republic", made in the style of the Russian charter , were placed. Initially, the flag depicted a white eagle with a scepter and power ^{[16] [17] [18]} .

After the end of May 2014, the DPR and LPR expressed their intention to unite in Novorossia ^[19] , a new version of the flag appeared - with the image of a white eagle with a ribbon at the bottom and the inscription “Novorossia” ^{[20] [15] [21]} . This eagle on the flag almost completely repeated the eagle from the flag of the organization Donetsk Republic: the same lack of a crown (replaced by a state ), the same ribbon, only the text in it and the image in the center differ (coat of arms of Lugansk instead of the archangel Michael).

In addition, the third option was sometimes used - a golden eagle with picks ^[22] Against the background of this flag, Valery Bolotov read on August 14, 2014 a televised appeal about resigning from the post of head of the LPR ^[23] .

On November 2, 2014, at the inauguration ceremony of the newly elected head of the LPR, Igor Plotnitsky, blue-blue-red flags with the emblem in the form of a three-part shield were used, which depicted a sunflower, a horse and a mine ^{[24] [25] [26]} .

A sunflower on a green background is depicted on the left side of the shield, a white horse on a red background on the right, and a coal mining plant on a blue background at the bottom. On the left and right sides of the shield are shown wheat ears. The ears are connected by a blue ribbon with the inscription: “WILL OF FREE PEOPLE”, which runs at the bottom of the flag. At the top of the flag is the inscription: "LPR". On the left and right sides of this inscription stars in three rows are depicted. Rows are tilted down. In the upper row there are three stars located in the extreme right side with respect to the middle row in the right group of stars, three stars in the extreme left side with respect to the middle row in the left group of stars. In the middle row, four stars are depicted on the left and right side of the inscription: “LPR”. In the bottom row, three stars are in the extreme left side with respect to the middle row in the right group of stars, three stars are in the extreme right side with respect to the middle row in the left group of stars .

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  Flag of LPR, actually used since May 9, 2014 ^{[27] [28]}

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  LNR flag November 2, 2014 - November 26, 2014

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  LNR flag since November 26, 2014

Options

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  Variant of the flag of the LPR
  until November 2, 2014

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  Variant of the flag of the LPR
  until November 2, 2014

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  Variant of the modern flag of the LPR

• Coat of arms of the Luhansk People's Republic
• Anthem of the Luhansk People's Republic
• Constitution of the Luhansk People's Republic
• Flag of Donetsk People's Republic
• Flag of New Russia
• Flag of Lugansk region

Law "On the State Flag of the Luhansk People's Republic"