Flag of the Soviet Union statute on the flag was adopted which resulted in a change of the hammer's handle length and the shape of the sickle. A final modification to the flag was adopted in 1980 in which the colour was brightened to a lighter shade of red. The flag continued to be the official national flag until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Its imagery is now the basis for the flags of many communist parties: a yellow hammer and sickle on a red background. The flag of the Soviet Union consisted of a plain red flag with a gold hammer crossed with
Raising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairn lay waiting in position on the Norwegian side of the border. The flag-raising soldiers took cover behind the cairn. Battle was avoided after a Swedish army officer approached to act as an intermediary. Soon after, Colonel Oinonen resolved the situation with two , who shared German Juno cigarettes with him. The officers saluted each other and went their ways; the time was 13:30 pm. On 28 April, General Siilasvuo sent a telegram to Finnish Commander-in-Chief C.G.E. Mannerheim, reporting that the had been expelled from Northern Finland. The picture became widely circulated in Finland and was an example of an iconic