United Russia

The All-Russian Political Party "United Russia" is the ruling political party of Russia since 2001. It is the largest party in the Russian Federation. As of 2026, it holds 349 of the 450 seats (78%) in the State Duma. It has held a majority in the chamber since 2007. Its nationalist and Eurosceptic ideas are not always consistent, and its members all support Vladimir Putin.

In 2009, the party announced that Russian conservatism was its official ideology. However, it mainly attracts voters who support Putin or who do not follow a particular ideology. Political scientists often describe it as a "big-tent party" or a "party of power". They say it is not based mainly on a single political ideology.

The party was formed on 1 December 2001 through a merger of Unity and the parties of the Fatherland – All Russia bloc. Our Home – Russia joined later. After the (/wiki/2003_Russian_legislative_election) and (/wiki/2011_Russian_legislative_election) election results, United Russia held a majority in the State Duma. It also won a constitutional majority in the (/wiki/2007_Russian_legislative_election), (/wiki/2016_Russian_legislative_election), and (/wiki/2021_Russian_legislative_election) elections. In the Duma elections of 2011, the party's list was chosen for the first time from the results of preliminary (primary) elections held together with the All-Russia People's Front. The party has regional, local, and primary branches. It has regional branches in all subjects of the Russian Federation, along with 82,631 primary branches and 2,595 local branches.

United Russia supports the policies of Putin, who is the current Russian president and was party leader during the presidency of Dmitry Medvedev. Putin does not currently hold a formal position in the party, but he acts as its de facto leader. The party's votes peaked in the 2007 Russian legislative election, when it won 64.3% of the vote. In recent years, its popularity has declined.

History

United Russia grew out of the Unity bloc, which was created three months before the December 1999 Duma elections to counter the Fatherland – All Russia (OVR) bloc led by Yuri Luzhkov and Yevgeny Primakov. Unity was backed by Kremlin insiders, and its leader was Sergei Shoigu, the Minister of Emergency Situations. Unity won 23.3% of the votes in 1999, and the popularity of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin helped it succeed. In December 2001, Unity merged with other groups and became United Russia, led by Mintimer Shaimiev. The party won the 2003 Duma elections and gained a constitutional majority. In 2003 it also backed Putin's candidacy for president. In the 2007 Duma elections, United Russia won 64.3% of the votes. Ahead of the 2008 presidential election, the party nominated Dmitry Medvedev, who won, and on 7 May 2008, Putin replaced Boris Gryzlov as party leader.

Main article: All-Russia People's Front

In 2011, Putin proposed creating the All-Russia People's Front, a broad group of public organizations that could work alongside the party. At the 12th Party Congress, Dmitry Medvedev supported Putin's candidacy for the 2012 presidential election. At the 13th Party Congress in 2012, Medvedev was elected chairman of United Russia. In the 2021 Duma elections, the party kept its supermajority, even though polls before the election showed low support. In December 2022, the European Union sanctioned the party because of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Participation in elections

United Russia has taken part in every election to the State Duma of the Russian Federation since 2003. Before that, it ran under the names Unity and Fatherland – All Russia. The party also used a "locomotive" strategy. It put well-known people on its lists, many of whom did not take their seats, so less famous members could work in the Duma instead. In 2003, 37 elected members refused their seats, and in 2007 and 2011 the numbers were 116 and 99. Among these "locomotives" were the President of Russia (2007 and 2011), heads of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, ministers of the Russian Government, and mayors. The party won 223 seats in 2003, 315 in 2007 (when Vladimir Putin led its list), 238 in 2011 (when Dmitry Medvedev led it), 343 in 2016, and 324 in 2021. In 2011 the party formed its list with the All-Russian Popular Front, and it took part in a televised debate for the first time, with officials such as Sergey Neverov, Andrey Vorobyov, Andrey Isayev, Svetlana Orlova, Andrey Makarov, and Alexander Tkachev, governor of Krasnodar Krai, named as possible speakers. The 2011 Duma elections are one example of these changes.

Since 2009, United Russia has often supported formally independent candidates in local elections. Some observers say candidates did not want to be linked to the party, because it was seen as less popular in big cities. Kommersant reported that candidates preferred not to advertise their party membership. In 2013, Sergey Sobyanin, who had been proposed by the party for mayor of Moscow, ran in early elections as an independent candidate, and the party promised to support him. Party members also used "primaries," a process where voters choose candidates. These were held in 2011 with the All-Russian Popular Front, and Oleg Morozov said in 2011 that the party wanted to make them mandatory for all parties. Since 2016 the primaries have been held every year, and in 2021 they were held online for six days, with about 11 million people taking part.

Election	Party leader	Party list leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Rank	Government
2003	Boris Gryzlov	Boris Gryzlov	22,779,279	37.57	223 / 450	122	1st	Minority
2007		Vladimir Putin	44,714,241	64.20	315 / 450	92	1st	Supermajority
2011	Vladimir Putin	Dmitry Medvedev	32,379,135	49.32	238 / 450	77	1st	Majority
2016	Dmitry Medvedev		28,527,828	54.20	343 / 450	105	1st	Supermajority
2021		Sergey Shoigu	28,064,258	49.82	324 / 450	19	1st	Supermajority
2026		Sergey Lavrov	39,118,497	59.01	349 / 450	25	1st	Supermajority

Current status

United Russia currently holds 340 of the 450 seats in the State Duma. It leads all five of the Duma's commissions, holds 14 of the 26 committee chairmanships, and has 10 of the 16 seats on the Council of Duma, the Duma's steering committee. The speaker of the Duma is United Russia's Vyacheslav Volodin. The party has only informal influence in the upper house, the Federation Council, because the Council has rejected the use of political factions in decision making.

In 2013, United Russia claimed to have 2 million members. A study by Timothy J. Colton, Henry E. Hale and Michael McFaul found that, after the March 2008 presidential elections, 30% of the Russian population were loyalists of the party. As of 2010, 26% of party members were pensioners, students and people who were temporarily unemployed. Another 21.2% worked in education, 20.9% in industry, 13.2% in the civil service and government, 8% in healthcare, 4% were business owners, and about 4% worked in the arts.

Party platform

Main article: Putin's Plan

Main article: Sovereign democracy

The party describes its official ideas as centrist, conservative, and Russian conservative. Its platform suggests a statist stance and a focus on pragmatism. Researchers also point to Eurasianism (Eurasianism), statism, and Putinism. Most political observers call the party centrist, while others call it centre-right or right-wing. It has also been called a big tent party, the party in power, or the presidential party. Its 2003 manifesto, The Path of National Success, says the party wants to unite the country's responsible political forces and reduce the gaps between rich and poor, and young and old. The party rejects left-wing and right-wing ideas in favour of "political centrism" and stresses pragmatism and anti-radicalism. In 2009, the party named Russian conservatism as its official ideology, and in 2015 it changed to liberal conservatism, which is right-leaning centrism.

In 2005, Boris Gryzlov, chairman of the State Duma, said the party was choosing a socially conservative policy. The party supports the government and President Vladimir Putin, and it went into the 2007 parliamentary elections with slogans backing Putin's plan. The term sovereign democracy, introduced by Vladislav Surkov in 2006, became a core idea of the party. The party is also mixed in its beliefs, with left-leaning, liberal, and national-conservative groups inside it. In cultural and social matters, it has worked closely with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Structure

In April 2008, United Russia changed its charter. The party's leader was now called Chairman of the Party and Chairman of the Party's Supreme Council. Under the changes, United Russia may introduce a top party post, the party's chairman, if the Supreme Council and its chairman suggest it. The Supreme Council, led by its chairman, decides the party's plans for growth. The General Council has 152 members. It is the party's main group between party congresses, and it makes statements on important social or political questions. The Presidium of the General Council has 23 members and is led by a secretary. It guides the party's political work, such as election campaigns or other published programmes.

In the early 2000s, United Russia set up a local branch system that copied the organisation of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). This system served as a strong foundation for the one-party dominant system. The party eagerly met with the LDP and studied its party structure. The number of members grew steadily as the system was introduced. As of 20 September 2005, the party had 2,600 local offices and 29,856 primary offices. United Russia runs local and regional offices in all parts of the Russian Federation. It also runs a foreign liaison office in Israel through an agreement with the Kadima party.

Program and charter

The party's official charter was posted on the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation website. The current charter dates from 26 May 2012. In 2007, the party adopted an election program called "Putin's Plan is a Worthy Future of a Great Country." Putin first spoke about "Strategy 2020" in Krasnoyarsk in 2008. That page was later removed from the party's website, but it can still be found on the Internet Archive, and the expert groups working on it had a website on the RIA Novosti portal. In 2011, when Putin was prime minister and the party's chairman, the All-Russia People's Front was created with United Russia's participation. Senator Nikolay Fyodorov headed the institute that prepared the Front's program.

At the party's 12th Congress in September 2011, Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin gave speeches, and the party nominated Putin for president. State Duma Vice Speaker Oleg Morozov suggested that these speeches be treated as the party's election program. Experts at Gazeta.Ru said the "programme appeal" resembled a text from the Brezhnev era. Party official Sergey Neverov explained that the "People's Program" and the program appeal were meant to be read together. The party's goals included lowering mortgage rates as inflation fell. Its 2018 moral code asked members to protect history of Russia from distortion. For the 2021 election, the people's program was based on a survey of more than two million Russians. Its discussions included Anna Kuznetsova, Sergey Lavrov, and Sergei Shoigu.

Governing bodies

United Russia has branches in each region of Russia. Regional branches are split into city and district branches, which are split into local branches. The party congress is the highest body. Between congresses, the General Council leads the party. The Presidium of the General Council and the Central Executive Committee handle the daily work. The highest official is the chairman, and the Central Control and Audit Commission checks the party's rules and finances.

The party congress is usually held once a year and makes the most important decisions, such as electing the party chairman. In the party's history, 20 congresses have been held. No congress was held in 2020 because of the difficult health situation. Boris Gryzlov was the first chairman. Vladimir Putin was elected chairman in 2008, and Dmitry Medvedev was elected in 2012. The Supreme Council has 100 members and helps set the party's direction. Andrey Turchak became secretary of the General Council in 2017, and Sergey Neverov had held the role on an acting basis before that. Irina Yarovaya chairs the Central Control Commission.

No.	Leader	Portrait	Took office	Left office
—	Collective leadership Sergey Shoygu Yury Luzhkov Mintimer Shaimiev		1 December 2001	27 November 2004
1	Boris Gryzlov		27 November 2004	7 May 2008
2	Vladimir Putin		7 May 2008	26 May 2012
3	Dmitry Medvedev		26 May 2012	Incumbent

Party institutions

Main article: Young Guard of United Russia

The Young Guard of United Russia is a youth group with a fixed membership, founded on 16 November 2005. It supports the party's course and acts as its personnel reserve. In March 2010, United Russia launched interregional conferences on the socio-economic development of federal districts, with the aim of setting a clear development plan for each region for 2010–2012. The first conferences were held in the Siberian Federal District in Krasnoyarsk and Novosibirsk, and the second in the North Caucasian Federal District, in Nalchik and Kislovodsk. The third was held in Ulyanovsk and Nizhny Novgorod.

Putin, who was then party leader, received the draft plans at the conferences. The meetings focused on specific proposals that could be carried out in the short term. At the conference in the Far Eastern Federal District, held in Khabarovsk in December 2010, Putin pointed to transport and energy as major problems. At a conference in the Central Federal District in Bryansk in March 2011, he asked party members to declare their income and expenses. In May 2011, a conference in the Southern Federal District was held in Volgograd, where Putin proposed the creation of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives. The Ural Federal District conference was held in Yekaterinburg in June 2011. The last conference was held in September 2011 in the Northwestern Federal District, in Cherepovets.

Income and expenses

The party's money comes from membership fees, which are voluntary, along with federal budget funds, donations, events, and business activities. Membership fees have never been the party's main source of income. In 2008 they made up 7.6% of the party's income. In 2009, most of its money came from donations from companies (63.8%) and state funding (26.8%). Some donations broke the Law on Political Parties. For example, a 30,000-ruble donation in 2012 came from a company whose founder was the Sergiyevo-Posadsky municipal district in the Moscow Oblast. In 2009, the Tula Oblast support fund collected the maximum 43.3 million rubles allowed by law. Other large donors included Eurocement Group, Russia's largest cement producer, Mechel, and Motovilikha Plants. The Peresvet Bank, whose founders include groups linked to the Moscow Patriarchate, also gave 30 million rubles in 2005–2007.

In 2014, the government increased the money it gave parties for each vote, from 50 rubles to 110 rubles. The party's income rose from 3.4 billion rubles in 2014 to 5.2 billion rubles in 2015. Most of its spending went to regional branches (45.5%) and central leadership (13.2%). A report from the Golos movement found that a third of companies that donated over 1 million rubles began receiving government contracts regularly. In 2013, the party announced that its party projects would be financed from the federal budget, with the participation of the Russian government, led by party leader Dmitry Medvedev. Other parties said they might challenge this in the Constitutional Court of Russia, because they believed it broke Article 13 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

Symbolism

The party's symbol is a marching bear. At its congress on 26 November 2005, the party decided to change the symbol. Instead of a brown bear, a white bear outlined in blue became the party's symbol. A fluttering Russian flag is shown above the bear, and the words "United Russia" are written below it. The new party's first symbol, a bear in a cap, was shown at the founding congress of the Union of "Unity" and "Fatherland" on 12 July 2001, but it was never used again. The party uses the 1991–1993 Russian flag, which has an azure stripe in the middle instead of the current blue one.

The party has used several slogans, including "We believe in ourselves and in Russia!" (2003), "Russia, forward!" and "Let's save and increase!" (2009), "Unity, Spirituality, Patriotism" (2010), and "The future is ours!" and "Together we will win!" (2011). In 2016, its slogans included "To act in the interests of the people is our task" and "We made Russia United – Let's make Russia Strong!"

Internal groupings and debate clubs

In early 2005, several active members publicly presented "socially oriented" and "right-liberal" or "liberal-conservative" ideas for developing Russia's economy and society. Some media outlets claimed the party would split into wings, but party chairman Boris Gryzlov rejected this. He said the party should not be divided into left and right, because its members were united in defending the interests of the country and its citizens. Instead, debate in the party took place in several informal ideological clubs. The party had four internal groupings built around shared policy interests, and four internal political clubs: the liberal-conservative 4 November Club, the social conservative Centre for Social Conservative Politics, the conservative liberal State Patriotic Club, and the liberal Liberal Club. The party once considered running in the 2007 Duma elections as three separate "columns" (liberal, conservative and social), but this idea was dropped. The 4 November Club had Valery Fadeyev, editor-in-chief of the Expert magazine, as one of its co-chairs. Its goals included building public support for a liberal-conservative path of development. The Center for Social Conservative Policy was a private club for discussing social problems, and its discussions helped shape the liberal current (Vladimir Pligin) and the social current (Andrey Isayev) in the party. Its founders included Igor Igoshin, Andrey Isayev, and Denis Kravchenko.

The State Patriotic Club focused on national unity, patriotism, effective public administration, and regional development. Its speakers included Andrei Fursenko, Aleksandr Avdeyev, Sergei Shoigu, Vsevolod Chaplin, Nikita Mikhalkov, Aleksandr Galibin, Yevgeny Steblov, and Stanislav Naumov. Its coordinators were State Duma deputies Irina Yarovaya and Grigory Ivliev. The liberal club held its first meeting on 18 March 2010 and included Vladimir Medinsky, Andrey Makarov, and Olga Kryshtanovskaya, along with some members of the 4 November club. Its ideology was neoconservatism. In 2012, the State Patriotic Club was turned into an independent Patriotic Platform, which later worked on projects linked to Runet. In 2017, Dmitry Sablin was approved as its coordinator. An Entrepreneurial Platform was also created in 2016 to support business.

Faction in the State Duma

After the 2003 elections... Let me correct that: after the 2003 parliamentary elections, United Russia gained a constitutional majority in the State Duma by bringing in deputies from single-mandate districts, most independents, all deputies from the People's Party, and others who had switched parties. This let it pass its plans without taking the opposition's views into account. The opposition included CPRF, LDPR, Rodina, and independent deputies. A book written by journalists Ilya Zhegulev and Lyudmila Romanova of Forbes and Vedomosti says that the Kremlin kept tight control over the party and its Duma faction. Neither Putin nor Surkov changed the nomenklatura into a party of new ideas. The faction was split into four groups led by Vladimir Pekhtin, Vladimir Katrenko, Vyacheslav Volodin, and Oleg Morozov. Deputies were told in advance how to vote, and those who voted correctly were rewarded with extra payments.

After the Duma elections in 2007, United Russia again had a constitutional majority, with 315 deputies. The faction was divided into four groups, led by Artur Chilingarov, Vladimir Pekhtin, Tatiana Yakovleva, and Nikolay Bulayev, and Boris Gryzlov led the faction. After the 2011 elections, the faction had 238 deputies. This was enough to pass federal laws alone, since the quorum is 226 deputies, but it needed help from other factions to pass constitutional laws and changes to the Constitution. In the 2016 State Duma elections, the party won a record 340 seats. Today, Vladimir Vasilyev leads the faction, with Dmitry Vyatkin and Vyacheslav Makarov as first deputy heads. The party has also created an expert council to review the faction's proposed laws before they go to the State Duma.

Representation in the leadership of the State Duma

Since 2003, the Chairman of the State Duma has been a member of the United Russia party. Boris Gryzlov held the role from 2003 to 2011, Sergey Naryshkin from 2011 to 2016, and Vyacheslav Volodin has held it since 2016. Other party members have served as First Deputy Chairman, including Oleg Morozov (2005–2011) and Alexander Zhukov, who has held the role since 21 December 2011. Deputy Chairmen from the party include Olga Timofeeva, Sergey Neverov, Pyotr Tolstoy, and Irina Yarovaya.

The party's leader in the State Duma, called the faction head, has also changed over time. Boris Gryzlov held this role from 2003 to 2011, followed by Andrey Vorobyov (2011–2012) and Vladimir Vasilyev (2012–2017). Since 9 October 2017, Sergey Neverov has held the position.

Opinions about the party, criticism, accusations, and scandals

Main article: Party of crooks and thieves

A Levada Center poll at the start of 2021 found that only 27% of Russians would vote for United Russia if elections to the State Duma were held soon. This was the lowest support for the party in any published poll since mid-2016. Supporters include President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, who called the party "a stabilizing element of our political system," and Vyacheslav Volodin, who described its ideology as gradual and steady development. TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov, on Russia-1, said critics should not blame only party members. In February 2012, published correspondence showed that staff of the party's central committee, led by Alexey Chesnakov, had created at least 250 pieces supporting the party, which appeared in online sites such as Vzglyad.ru and newspapers such as Argumenty i Fakty, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Moskovskij Komsomolets, and Nezavisimaya Gazeta under fictitious names. Critics include Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, who said the party has no clear ideology or program. Former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Yevgeny Primakov said it swings between "statists" and liberals, and former CPSU leader Mikhail Gorbachev said it was more imitation than efficient operation. Opponents also said laws passed by the party, such as requiring at least 50,000 members, were designed to limit real competition, according to The Washington Post. Party registration is overseen by the Russian Ministry of Justice.

The party has been called "the party of crooks and thieves" by Alexei Navalny, a term he coined in February 2011 because of ongoing corruption in Russia. In 2011, Putin said this was a cliché about power in general. A Levada Center survey in April 2013 found that about half of Russians agreed with the description. Boris Nemtsov used the phrase on Radio Liberty, and former Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov called the party a "political corpse." In 2018, the party's support for raising the retirement age lowered public trust in it, and opposition candidates won several gubernatorial elections that September. Mass protests were also held against the change. Election violations were alleged in many places. In 2009, police in Murmansk detained people handing out vodka for votes, and the party was accused of negative campaigning and of the Patriots of Russia losing votes in Karachay-Cherkessia. In Tomsk, the governor Viktor Kress was accused of pressuring voters. Before the 2007 Duma election, the mayor of Khabarovsk said local officials had recommended that election commission chairmen join the party. In 2011, A Just Russia leader Sergey Mironov published a document about falsifying protocols, reported by Moskovskiye Novosti. Ahead of the 2011 federal election campaign, Gazeta.Ru and the Association for the Protection of Voters' Rights GOLOS created a map of violations, and Gennady Gudkov accused the governor of Moscow Oblast, Boris Gromov, of planning election fraud. Officials in Izhevsk and Udmurtia were also accused of linking money for projects to votes, and Kommersant reported on a signature form in Voronezh. Scientists from the Medical University of Vienna later reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that falsifications were found in the 2011 and 2012 elections.

Notable departures from the party

Yury Luzhkov, a former co-chairman of the party's Supreme Council, left United Russia in 2010 at the same time as he resigned as mayor of Moscow. Speaking on 21 October 2010 as a dean of the International University in Moscow, he said he had always been wary of the party because it had no democratic institutions, and that its members always obeyed the administration. "The party is a servant, and I left it," he concluded. Many other well-known people also left, including Valery Zubov of the Krasnoyarsk Krai, Mikhail Yurevich of the Chelyabinsk Oblast, Aleksey Lebed of Khakassia, ballerina and actress Anastasia Volochkova, General Yevgeny Yuryev, Pavel Grudinin, Igor Morozov, Mikhail Dvorkovich, the brother of politician Arkady Dvorkovich, and Igor Putin, a cousin of Vladimir Putin. For political reasons, the governor of Stavropol Krai, Alexander Chernogorov, the mayor of Volgograd, Roman Grebennikov, and the mayor of Tula, Alisa Tolkacheva, were excluded from the party.

In 2015, almost a hundred people in Kopeysk left the party. All of them worked at three local companies that had not paid their employees' salaries for a long time because they did not have the money. The workers blamed the head of Kopeysk, Vyacheslav Istomin, and said their complaints had been ignored, which led them to write statements leaving the party. In 2021, more than 120 workers at the Kuchuksulfat plant in the village of Stepnoye, in the Altai Krai, left the party at the same time. They were worried that the plant might change owners and be taken over unfairly, and they said the party had not taken any action to help solve the problem.

Sanctions

On 16 December 2022, because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, United Russia was added to the EU sanctions list. The European Union said the party supported Russia's harmful war against Ukraine and the taking of Ukrainian territories. It said the party was responsible for supporting actions that harm Ukraine's territory and independence.

All of the party's assets in the European Union are to be frozen, and members of the party are to be banned from entering the EU. On 24 February 2023, United Russia was also added to Canada's sanctions list.

Leading members

Notable members of the party may be found in category:United Russia politicians.

• Vladimir Putin, President of Russia and former chairman of the party
• Boris Gryzlov, former Interior Minister, Chairman of the Supreme Council of United Russia, and former leader of the party
• Vyacheslav Volodin, current Chairman of the State Duma
• Valentina Matviyenko, current Chairwoman of the Federation Council
• Sergei Shoigu, former Defence Minister, former Emergency Minister, former leader of the Unity party, and former leader of the party
• Mintimer Shaymiev, President of Tatarstan until 2010
• Vladislav Surkov, former First Deputy Chief of Staff of the President
• Alexander Zhukov, First Vice Chairman of the State Duma and former Deputy Prime Minister
• Dmitry Medvedev, current chairman of the party, former Prime Minister of Russia, and former President of Russia. He has been the leader of the party's Federal list to the Duma since 24 September 2011.
• Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic
• Ruslan Edelgeriev, Chairman of the Government of the Chechen Republic from 24 May 2012 to 25 June 2018