By the order of the Ministry of transport of the Russian Federation from August, 20th, 2009 № 141 the Regulations about the order of assigning names to sea vessels (further - Regulations) are confirmed.  

The Regulations are developed according to the articles 15 and 20 of the Trading Navigation Code of the Russian Federation and established a united order of assigning (changing) names to sea crafts flying the National flag of the Russian Federation which are being used for trade navigation. 

The Regulations cover self-propelled and non self-propelled sea crafts which are registered or subjected to registration in the State ship register, Russian international register of vessels or ship book and being the property of:
• citizens of the Russian Federation;
• legal bodies according to the legislation of the Russian Federation;
• Russian Federation, regions of the Russian Federation;
• municipalities.

The Regulations are also applied to vessels included in the register of vessels of a foreign state, given in possession to a Russian charterer under a contract of vessel charter without a crew (berbout charter) which are tentatively given the right to fly the National flag of the Russian Federation.

The order of Ministry of Transport of Russia comes into force 10 days after the day of its official publication.