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Sakhalin Region (Russia)

Saqalinskaâ oblasth

Last modified: 2006-07-29 by antonio martins
Keywords: sakhalin | map | law | kurilles | nyevyel’sk | nevelhsk | fish (yellow) | seal | sun: 36 rays | anchor (white) |
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Сахалинская область

flag of Sakhalin Region
image by Pascal Gross, 18 Jan 2000
See also: Other sites:
  • Laws concerning the regional symbols (in PDF format): Beware: the download can take a long time. Except for the coat of arms, there aren’t any pictures.
    reported by Pascal Vagnat, 25 Nov 1998
  • Flag law and Coat of arms law, in HTML, with images
    reported by Dov Gutterman, 26 Jan 2002

Presentation of Sakhalin Region

(Note: You need an Unicode-aware software and font to correctely view the cyrillic text on this page. See here transliteration details).

  • Name (english): Sakhalin Region • (russian): Сахалинская область | Saqalinskaâ oblasth
  • Capital (russian): Южна-Сахалинск | Ûẑna-Saqalinsk • (english): Yuzhna-Sakhalinsk
  • Area: 87 100 km2 (≅33 600 sq.mi.) • Population: 590 600 inhabitants in 2000
  • Status: Region (область | oblasth) within the Russian Federation
  • Federal District: Far-East • Economic region: Far East
  • License plate code: 65 • Ham radio code: SL • ISO 3166-2 code: SAK
  • Flag adopted on 1997.04.16 • Coat of arms adopted on 1997.04.16

Description of the flag

According to Le cabinet des drapeaux communique… 14/98 and 15/98 [cdd], the flag and the coat of arms of this region were adopted on the 16th of April 1997. The flag is a greenish blue proportions 2:3 with the representation of the island of Sakhalin and close to it the archipelago of the Kouriles islands in white. The whole is looking like a big "V".
Pascal Vagnat, 13 Oct 1998.


Law texts

From http://www.chat.ru/~heraldica/65_sakh.htm:

A Law of Sakhalin Oblast
On the Flag of Sakhalin Oblast — A Subject of the Russian Federation
(adopted by the Sakhalin Oblast Council 16 April 1997)

Article 1. General Propositions

  1. The flag of Sakhalin Oblast — a subject of the Russian Federation — is a symbol of Sakhalin Oblast as a state-territorial entity in the structure of the Russian Federation.
  2. Everyone who finds himself in the territory of the oblast is obliged to honor the flag of Sakhalin Oblast and show it respect.

Article 2. Description of the flag of Sakhalin Oblast

The flag of Sakhalin Oblast is a rectangular bunting of the color of the waves of the sea (dark blue with an emerald-green tinge); in the central part of the fabric is an outline representation of Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands in white, forming the unitary Sakhalin Oblast. The representation of Sakhalin Island and the Kurile Islands archipelago is located in the center of the bunting, set at an angle of 45 degrees. The upper and lower borders of the islands are located on a line one-eighth the height of the flag from the upper and lower edges. The ratio of the height of the flag to its length is 2:3.

Article 3. Use of the flag of Sakhalin Oblast

  1. The flag of Sakhalin Oblast shall be hoisted:
    1. on the buildings of the administration of Sakhalin Oblast and the Sakhalin Oblast Council;
    2. on the transportation vehicles of the governor of Sakhalin Oblast and the chairman of the Sakhalin Oblast Council.
  2. The flag of Sakhalin Oblast may be placed:
    1. on the buildings of organs of executive authority, organs of local self-government, community organizations, enterprises, institutions, and organizations independent of forms of ownership, and also on dwellings and streets on days of festivity and commemoration,
    2. on buildings and in lodgings of official representations of Sakhalin Oblast beyond the borders of Sakhalin Oblast;
    3. on the transport vehicles and formal clothing of staff personnel of organs of internal affairs of Sakhalin Oblast.
  3. The flag of Sakhalin Oblast may be placed in the offices of the governor of Sakhalin Oblast, the chairman of the Sakhalin Oblast Council, the official heads of oblast organs of executive authority, and organs of local self-government.
  4. The flag of Sakhalin Oblast may be hoisted at ceremonies and in times of festivity and commemoration conducted by organs of state authority of Sakhalin Oblast, community associations, enterprises, foundations, and organizations, regardless of forms of ownership.
  5. The flag of Sakhalin Oblast may be hoisted as a sign of mourning. On such occasions to the upper part of the flagpole or mast shall be attached a black streamer of the same length as the flag. In sign of mourning the flag of Sakhalin Oblast may be flown at half-mast.
  6. When the flag of the Russian Federation and the flag of Sakhalin Oblast are flown simultaneously, the flag of Sakhalin Oblast should not exceed the size of the flag of the Russian Federation.
  7. When the flag of the Russian Federation and the flag of Sakhalin Oblast are flown simultaneously, the flag of the Russian Federation should be flown at the left side of the building, and the flag of Sakhalin Oblast at the right side.
  8. When several flags are flown simultaneously, the flag of the Russian Federation should be placed in the center (in case of an even number of flags, at the left center), and the flag of Sakhalin Oblast should be placed at the right of the flag of the Russian Federation.
  9. The flag of Sakhalin Oblast, regardless of its size, should answer to its description given in Article 2 of this Act.

Article 4. Effective Date of this Act

This Act will come into force on the date of its official publication.

Governor of Sakhalin Oblast I. P. Farkhutdinov,
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, 25 April 1997, No. 34

translated by John Ayer, 16 Jan 2000 and 19 Jan 2000

This law text is fairily typical for russian subdivisions, Sakhalin shows though some interesting originalities. On article 1, paragraph 2, we can read:

Everyone who finds himself in the territory of the oblast is obliged to honor the flag of Sakhalin Oblast and show it respect.
This is an interesting touch of originality among these self-repeating laws. I bet it is somehow connected with the japanese claim over the southern Kurilles. I seem to know that even if the russian federal government (in Moscow, where some trillion yens might be more importantant then some tiny wind beaten and chemically polluted islets) decides to settle the issue by giving the islands back to Japan, the local regional government (to whom only a small portion of the said yens would be delivered), would have to approve this resolution for it to be enforceable — something I doubt would happend in the years to come. This clause seems to confirm it. It will be interesting to check the other Sakhalin flag law (guidelines for the flag contest) for a similar “spirit” — that all designs proposed to the contest should underline the totality of the regional territory, etc, etc… A map makes sense in view of this, naturally…
António Martins, 20 Jan 2000


Coat of arms

The shield is vertical white, blue, white. In the white stripes are two black trapezoids (with base slighty more great that the upper part) that seems two volcan; above these are a figure, like a "S" or so, in red that seems the fire of the volcan. In the blue stripe is a golden ship. The writing (cyrilic) say some similar to this: "admnhnctpaunr caxannhckoñ oonactn". (Administration of Sakhalin’s oblast?)
Jaume Ollé, 15 Oct 1998


Nyevyel’sk county and city
(Nevelhskiĭ raĭon | Невельский район;
Nevelhsk | Невельск, a county-status city)

flag of Nevelsk Region
image by Pascal Gross, 25 Mar 2001

At http://www.aha.ru/~heraldik/flags.htm you can find informations on russian municipial flags, p. e. Sachalin, Nevelskii Rayon.
Falko Schmidt, 09 Mar 2001


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