Unity (Russian: Единство, Yedinstvo) was a Russian political party that was created as an "interregional group" in September 1999 and registered on October 15, supported by Russia’s President Boris Yeltsin, PM Vladimir Putin and some tens of Russian governors to counter the threat which the Kremlin perceived from the Fatherland-All Russia alliance. [1] It was also unofficilally dubbed "Medved’" (The Bear) or "medvedi" (bears), as the "MeDvEd" acronym of its full name (Mezhregonalnoye Dvizhenie "Edinstvo"; Interregional movement "Unity"). Later the party took a brown bear as its symbol. It was headed by Russia’s Emergencies Minister Sergey Shoygu. Prime Minister Putin immediately pledged support for the new bloc, saying it can help stabilize the political situation in Russia. On November 24 1999 he told reporters that in his capacity as premier, he "should not define his political preferences" with respect to election blocs but "as an ordinary citizen" he will vote for Unity. The party’s leading candidates in 1999 State Duma elections were Sergey Shoygu, nine-times world wrestling champion Alexander Karelin and former senior police official Alexander Gurov. Unity relied on a mud-slinging campaign to discredit the alliance, backed up by popular support for the Second Chechen War. [2] It was also heavily promoted by the ORT TV channel. The Unity party has no clear ideology or program beyond its support of the war in Chechnya. [3] In the 1999 State Duma elections on December 19, Unity received 23.32 percent of the vote and won 72 seats of 441 elected (second result after the Communist Party of the Russian Federation). [4] Later ten more seats joined the faction. Shoigu remained Emergencies Minister and didn’t go to the new State Duma. On January 12 2000 the party elected Boris Gryzlov leader of its faction. The party supported Vladimir Putin in the 2000 presidential elections. In April 2001 the Unity party and the Fatherland movement took the decision to unite into a single political party, United Russia.
