Flora camouflage

Flora (Russian: Флора, sometimes erroneously called VSR-98) is a military camouflage pattern formerly used by the Russian Armed Forces. It was adopted in 1998.^[1]

Flora camouflage
Flora camouflage pattern
Type	Military camouflage pattern
Place of origin	Russian Federation
Service history
In service	1998-2011
Used by	See Users
Wars	Second Chechen War Russo-Georgian War War in Donbas

The pattern has some design similarities with the Butan and Tiger stripe camo.^[1]

History

A. Kolmakov, commander of Russian VDV forces (right), in Flora camouflage receiving a report from a soldier in Dubok camouflage. The soldier on the left and the troops in the background are wearing Zabralo armor in Barviha camouflage. 2004.

Flora came as a replacement for the “Barvikha” camouflage - the name of the R&D program. The pattern did not have an official name, so popular nicknames like "vertikalka" (vertical), berezka (birch), VSR-93 and so on appeared.^[2]

Flora was adopted into the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in 1998.

The camo was last seen with so-called pro-Moscow Crimean auxiliaries during the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation^[3] and with some Russsian troops in the War in Donbas.^[4]

Design

Flora is optimised for an environment typical of central Russia and is effective at silhouette dissolution.^[5] Because of the characteristic stripes, "Flora" was nicknamed "Arbuznyj" (watermelony; арбузный) camouflage. It is also known by the erroneous designation VSR-98, which stands for Vooruzhennyye sily Rossii or Russian Armed Forces 1998. This came from the book "Camouflage Uniforms of the Soviet Union and Russia: 1937-Present" by Dennis Desmond.^{[citation needed]}

The overall color scheme can vary widely depending on the fabric used by the manufacturer.^[6]

"Flora" consists of the green Flora pattern and the Mountain Flora pattern, which has dark yellow, sand or khaki color.^[7]

Users

Former

Russian paratroopers wearing Flora camouflage

•  Belarus: Replaced by EMR.^[8]
•  Russia: Formerly used by all branches of Russian Armed Forces.^[9] Replaced by EMR by 2011.^[10][11] However, some are still used by military educational institutes^[1] and some Russian soldiers in Ukraine.^[4]
•  Tajikistan: Adopted EMR to replace Flora.^[12]

Partially-recognized states

Donetsk's Vostok Battalion wearing Flora during the rehearsal for the 2015 Victory Parade in Donetsk

•  Donetsk People's Republic^[13]
•  Luhansk People's Republic

References

1. https://camo.by/camo/ru/flora.html
2. "Флора (камуфляж)". Archived from the original on 10 July 2021.
3. Galeotti (2019), pp. 14–15.
4. Galeotti (2019), pp. 32–33.
5. "Камуфляж - виды и расцветки стран мира | Интернет проект Я выживу". i-survive.ru. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
6. "Russia - Camopedia". camopedia.org. Retrieved 2024-02-04.^{[better source needed]}
7. "Russian Camo: what camouflage does Russia use?".
8. https://camo.by/camo/ru/emr.html
9. https://kula-tactical.com/military-camouflage-patterns/russian-camouflages/flora-camo
10. https://web.archive.org/web/20150122121359/http://function.mil.ru/news_page/country/more.htm?id=10371371@egNews
11. https://ufpro.com/blog/europes-official-camouflage-patterns
12. Larson (2021), p. 328.
13. Crowther (2022), p. 67.

Bibliography

• Crowther, Edward (2022). War in Ukraine: Volume 1: Armed Formations of the Donetsk People’s Republic, 2014-2022. Helion and Company. ISBN 978-1915070661.
• Galeotti, Mark (2019). Armies Of Russia's War In Ukraine. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1472833440.
• Larson, Eric H. (2021). Camouflage: International Ground Force Patterns, 1946–2017. Barnsley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 9781526739537.