Unity

   / INTERREGIONAL MOVEMENT “UNITY.”

   Political party. Known in Russian as Iedinstvo, Unity was a pro-Yeltsin party established in 1999 to combat the growing influence of Fatherland— All Russia. The party was colloquially known as Medved’ (The Bear), for the acronym of its longer name (Mezhregional’noie Dvizheniie Iedinstvo). The party’s early backers were regional governors who hoped to shape the future direction of Russian politics. Then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin quickly threw his support behind the group and its leader, Minister of Emergency Situations Sergey Shoygu. Despite its lack of a cogent political platform, the party’s support for the popular second Chechen War and its promotion in pro-Kremlin media outlets aided the party’s rise to prominence. In the State Duma elections of 1999, the party took second place behind the Communist Party of the Russian Federation with 23 percent of the vote and 84 seats in the lower house; 10 more members soon joined the faction. In 2000, Boris Gryzlov took over as leader of the party. Also that year, Unity backed Vladimir Putin’s candidacy for president. In 2001, Unity merged with its former rival, Fatherland—All Russia, to form United Russia, which soon became the dominant political party in Russia.