The Russian armed forces consist of three service branches: the Ground Forces, the Aerospace Forces, and the Navy. The Strategic Rocket Forces, the Airborne Forces and the Special Operations Forces are independent organizations under direct command of the Ministry of Defense. There are also a number of paramilitary organizations, such as the National Guard and the Border Service of the Federal Security Service (encompassing the Border Troops and the Coast Guard).

The service branches of the Russian armed forces have distinctive flags and banners. The former are for everyday indoor and outdoor use, while the latter are seen mostly on ceremonial occasions. Some of the flags are new designs; others are modified versions of flags used in the Soviet era, e.g. those of the Airborne Forces and the Aerospace Forces. The banners of the armed forces as a whole and of the Ground Forces are based on the design of military colors of the late tsarist period. The Navy employs the Russian naval ensign, the historic Andrew Flag, as both its branch flag and banner. Both flags and banners are displayed and carried with the national flag.

See also Russian Federation Naval Ensigns, Flags & Pennants

The National Guard was formed in 2016 by removing the Internal Troops organization from the Ministry of the Interior and designating it as a seperate service under the direct command of the President of the Russian Federation. Its stated missions are securing Russia's borders in conjunction with the Border Service, enforcement of gun control, regulations, combating terrorism and organized crime, ensuring public order and guarding state facilities. It is, in effect, a paramilitary gendarmerie charged with the security of the regime. The Border Service is a branch of the Federal Security Service in the same way that its Soviet predecessor was a branch of the KGB.

The Symbol of Victory Banner was introduced in 1996 for use in ceremonies and observences commemorating Russia's victory in the Second World War, as an alternative to the various historical flags used for the same purpose in the Soviet era. Since 2007, however, replicas of one such historical flag are used instead: that of the 150th Rifle Division, 79th Rifle Corps, Third Shock Army, First Belorussian Front, which was raised over the ruins of the German Reichstag on 1 May 1945.

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