Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "White-blue-white flag" in English language version.
While the Belarusian opposition has long been inspired by Ukraine's resistance to Russia and attempts to impose authoritarian rule, the arrival of Russians willing to fight against their own compatriots is relatively new. The uniforms of the Freedom for Russia unit have the white-blue-white patch, in the colors of a new Russian flag favored by some opponents of Mr. Putin.
Even if Russians can't reference the ongoing war, many have changed their profile pictures to black or white to indicate mourning or the need for peace. Instead of using the Ukrainian flag online (some people might not feel safe overtly indicating they are pro-Ukraine), you sometimes see people posting the Russian tricolour, with an extra white band replacing the red – the logic being that it is the Russian flag but 'without the blood'.
Im Exil formiert sich eine Anti-Putin-Opposition. Als Symbol tragen die Regimegegner eine weiß-blau-weiße Flagge. […] Auch in Russland tauchen die neuen Farben auf. So demonstrierten in Jekaterinburg schon Anfang März Putin-Gegner im Zeichen der Flagge gegen den Krieg.[An anti-Putin opposition forms in exile. The opponents of the regime bear a white-blue-white flag as a symbol. […] The new colors are also appearing in Russia. In Yekaterinburg, for example, opponents of Putin demonstrated against the war under the sign of the flag at the beginning of March.]
Several Russian-speaking people in their early 20's waved the white-blue-white flag, currently a symbol of the anti-war protests in Russia and were often met with questions about what it means. "See, there's no red, no blood", explained one of the flag bearers to a curious person in the crowd.
Several members of the crowd carried a blue and white striped flag, a symbolic version of the Russian flag, which normally has a red stripe on the bottom. The protesters said Putin had destroyed their flag, so they changed it by rubbing out the red. "We decided we can just take our Russian flag and just wash it from all this blood and just have this blue-white flag," Valaria said.
Die Vorteile einer neuen weiß-blau-weißen Flagge seien zum einen die Ähnlichkeit mit der ehemaligen Flagge von Weliki Nowgorod, einer Stadt, die als Wiege der russischen Demokratie gelte. Außerdem würde sie an die belarussische weiß-rot-weiße Protestfalle erinnern.[Among the advantages of a new white-blue-white flag were its resemblance of the former flag of Veliky Novgorod, a city considered to be the cradle of Russian democracy. Also, it would remind of the Belarusian white-red-white protest flag.]
One protester at Bebelplatz named Nikitia (sic) Batalov held up a blue and white flag. "This is a Russian flag without a red stripe, without a red bloody stripe of Russia, without Putin," she told DW, explaining that half her family live in Ukraine and half in Russia.
About 50 Russians converged on Limassol's promenade prior to joining with other protesters to chant slogans such as "Stop the war, stop Putin" and waving blue and white flags they said where[sic] the Russian national flag without the red stripe that represented "blood and violence."
Die weiß-blau-weiße Flagge ähnelt auch der Flagge des freien Belarus — Weiß-Rot-Weiß.[The white-blue-white flag is similar to the flag of the free Belarus – white-red-white.]
Thousands of Russians marched through Prague on Saturday, waving the white-blue-white flag that has become a symbol of protests against Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Schon wenige Tage nach der Invasion schrieben viele Russen in sozialen Medien, dass sich die weiß-blau-rote Trikolore diskreditiert habe und das neue Russland, das irgendwann nach Putin entstehen wird, eine neue Flagge brauche – ohne Blut darauf. Der rote Streifen solle daher durch einen zweiten weißen Streifen ersetzt werden: die Farbe des russischen Schnees und der Reue.[Just days after the invasion, many Russians wrote on social media that the white-blue-red tricolor had become discredited and that the new Russia that will emerge sometime after Putin needed a new flag – without blood on it. The red stripe is therefore to be replaced by a second white stripe: the color of Russian snow and of regret.]
[S]ome anti-war Russians on 6 March rallied around a brand-new flag they have chosen to represent them: a single blue band on a white background. […] "We decided we can no longer use the Russian tricolor, because Putin has turned it into a fascist symbol," said Alex Zaporozhtsev, an activist with the group For Freedom in Russia, which has organized protests against the Putin regime for over seven years. "We decided to take away the red stripe – it's the color of blood – and make it white." He said the new flag was conceived in a group chat for Russian opposition activists living around the world and made its debut shortly after the invasion.
Im Exil formiert sich eine Anti-Putin-Opposition. Als Symbol tragen die Regimegegner eine weiß-blau-weiße Flagge. […] Auch in Russland tauchen die neuen Farben auf. So demonstrierten in Jekaterinburg schon Anfang März Putin-Gegner im Zeichen der Flagge gegen den Krieg.[An anti-Putin opposition forms in exile. The opponents of the regime bear a white-blue-white flag as a symbol. […] The new colors are also appearing in Russia. In Yekaterinburg, for example, opponents of Putin demonstrated against the war under the sign of the flag at the beginning of March.]
Schon wenige Tage nach der Invasion schrieben viele Russen in sozialen Medien, dass sich die weiß-blau-rote Trikolore diskreditiert habe und das neue Russland, das irgendwann nach Putin entstehen wird, eine neue Flagge brauche – ohne Blut darauf. Der rote Streifen solle daher durch einen zweiten weißen Streifen ersetzt werden: die Farbe des russischen Schnees und der Reue.[Just days after the invasion, many Russians wrote on social media that the white-blue-red tricolor had become discredited and that the new Russia that will emerge sometime after Putin needed a new flag – without blood on it. The red stripe is therefore to be replaced by a second white stripe: the color of Russian snow and of regret.]
[S]ome anti-war Russians on 6 March rallied around a brand-new flag they have chosen to represent them: a single blue band on a white background. […] "We decided we can no longer use the Russian tricolor, because Putin has turned it into a fascist symbol," said Alex Zaporozhtsev, an activist with the group For Freedom in Russia, which has organized protests against the Putin regime for over seven years. "We decided to take away the red stripe – it's the color of blood – and make it white." He said the new flag was conceived in a group chat for Russian opposition activists living around the world and made its debut shortly after the invasion.
About 50 Russians converged on Limassol's promenade prior to joining with other protesters to chant slogans such as "Stop the war, stop Putin" and waving blue and white flags they said where[sic] the Russian national flag without the red stripe that represented "blood and violence."
One protester at Bebelplatz named Nikitia (sic) Batalov held up a blue and white flag. "This is a Russian flag without a red stripe, without a red bloody stripe of Russia, without Putin," she told DW, explaining that half her family live in Ukraine and half in Russia.
Several members of the crowd carried a blue and white striped flag, a symbolic version of the Russian flag, which normally has a red stripe on the bottom. The protesters said Putin had destroyed their flag, so they changed it by rubbing out the red. "We decided we can just take our Russian flag and just wash it from all this blood and just have this blue-white flag," Valaria said.
Even if Russians can't reference the ongoing war, many have changed their profile pictures to black or white to indicate mourning or the need for peace. Instead of using the Ukrainian flag online (some people might not feel safe overtly indicating they are pro-Ukraine), you sometimes see people posting the Russian tricolour, with an extra white band replacing the red – the logic being that it is the Russian flag but 'without the blood'.
Die weiß-blau-weiße Flagge ähnelt auch der Flagge des freien Belarus — Weiß-Rot-Weiß.[The white-blue-white flag is similar to the flag of the free Belarus – white-red-white.]
Die Vorteile einer neuen weiß-blau-weißen Flagge seien zum einen die Ähnlichkeit mit der ehemaligen Flagge von Weliki Nowgorod, einer Stadt, die als Wiege der russischen Demokratie gelte. Außerdem würde sie an die belarussische weiß-rot-weiße Protestfalle erinnern.[Among the advantages of a new white-blue-white flag were its resemblance of the former flag of Veliky Novgorod, a city considered to be the cradle of Russian democracy. Also, it would remind of the Belarusian white-red-white protest flag.]
Several Russian-speaking people in their early 20's waved the white-blue-white flag, currently a symbol of the anti-war protests in Russia and were often met with questions about what it means. "See, there's no red, no blood", explained one of the flag bearers to a curious person in the crowd.
Thousands of Russians marched through Prague on Saturday, waving the white-blue-white flag that has become a symbol of protests against Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
While the Belarusian opposition has long been inspired by Ukraine's resistance to Russia and attempts to impose authoritarian rule, the arrival of Russians willing to fight against their own compatriots is relatively new. The uniforms of the Freedom for Russia unit have the white-blue-white patch, in the colors of a new Russian flag favored by some opponents of Mr. Putin.
