Yevgeny Ilyich Ukhnalyov was a Russian artist. He was a founding member of the Russian Guild of Heraldic Artists and the creator of many state symbols of modern Russia including its coat of arms. In 1997 he was awarded the People's Artist of Russia title.

The coat of arms of Russia derives from the earlier coat of arms of the Russian Empire. Though modified more than once since the reign of Ivan III (1462–1505), the current coat of arms is directly derived from its medieval original, with the double-headed eagle having Byzantine and earlier antecedents. The general tincture corresponds to the fifteenth-century standard.