The flag is shaped as a rectangular three-colored cloth made of three identical strips: top is white, middle is dark blue, and bottom is red.

The width/length ratio is 2:3.

Currently, there is no official interpretation of the colors of the flag. Before Revolution of 1917 the interpretation was as follows:

White: Freedom

Dark blue: The Virgin

Red: Symbol of a great power

Another interpretation correlates the colors of the flag with historical areas of the Russian empire: Belarus (white color), Malorossiya (dark blue color) and Great Russia (red color). Dark blue, white and red colors are the so-called Pan-Slavic colors and are used in the flags of the majority of the Slavic states and nations (Czech Republic, Serbia, and Croatia). The Pan-Slavic flag also uses these three colors. Interestingly, the white, dark blue and red colors, which symbolize freedom and revolutionary ideals, are also used in the flags of many non-Slavic states, such as France and the Great Britain.

The federal constitutional law On the National Flag of the Russian Federation establishes the State flag of the Russian Federation, its description and the procedure of its official use.