1999: The transfer of the national flag of the Russian Federation and of the standard of the RF President to the State Hermitage

In 1998 a new national flag for the Russian Federation and a new presidential standard were developed under the guidance of the State Heraldry unit attached to the Office of the RF President then occupied by Boris Yeltsin. President Yeltsin took the decision to transfer the outgoing national flag and presidential standard to the State Hermitage.

On 29 June 1999 President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin turned over the national flag and presidential standard to the Director of the State Hermitage, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Full Member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Professor Mikhail Piotrovsky and to the First Deputy Director of the State Hermitage, State Heroldmeister, Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Heraldry, George Vilinbakhov. Following the ceremony, Mikhail Piotrovsky and George Vilinbakhov gave President Yeltsin a copy number one of a catalogue of works of art and cultural monuments acquired by the State Hermitage in accordance with the Presidential Decree on the State Hermitage dated 12 June 1996 and the Presidential Order on Additions to the State Hermitage Collections dated 30 May 1997.

In the St George Hall. Director of the State Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky is giving an interview
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Boris Yeltsin, President of the Russian Federation, and Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage, at the ceremony
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