Unity (Russian political party)

Unity (Russian: Еди́нство, tr. Yedinstvo) was a Russian political party that was created on 3 October 1999, supported by Russia’s President Boris Yeltsin, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and dozens of Russian governors to counter the threat which the Kremlin perceived from the Fatherland-All Russia alliance. It was also unofficially dubbed "Medved’" (the bear) or "Medvedi" (bears), as "MeDvEd" was an acronym of its full name (Mezhregionalnoye Dvizheniye "Edinstvo"; Interregional movement "Unity"). Later the party adopted a brown bear for its symbol.