<P> The United Russia party formed in December 2001 through a merger of the Unity and the Fatherland--All Russia parties . As of 2017, the United Russia party supports the policies of the presidential administration . Although the United Russia party's popularity declined from its peak of 64.4% in the 2007 Duma elections to 49.32% in the 2011 elections, it remained the most popular party in the country, ahead of the second - placed Communist Party at 19.19% . In the 2016 elections, it received 54.2% while the second - place Communist Party received 13.3% . </P> <P> The party has no coherent ideology, but it embraces specific politicians and officials with a variety of political views who support the administration . The party appeals mainly to non-ideological voters, therefore United Russia is often classified by political scientists as a "catch - all party" or as a "party of power". In 2009, it proclaimed Russian conservatism as its official ideology . </P> <P> United Russia's predecessor was the Unity bloc, which was created three months before the December 1999 Duma elections to counter the advance of the Fatherland--All Russia (OVR) party led by Yuri Luzhkov . The creation of the party was heavily supported by Kremlin insiders, who were wary of what looked like a certain OVR victory . They did not expect Unity to have much chance of success since President Boris Yeltsin was very unpopular and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's ratings were still minuscule . The new party attempted to mimic OVR's formula of success, placing an emphasis on competence and pragmatism . Charismatic Minister of Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu was appointed as the party leader . </P> <P> In 1999, Prime Minister Putin's popularity soared to double digit figures after he decisively sent troops to the rebellious Chechnya republic as a retaliation for terrorist bombings in Moscow and other cities and in response for the Chechen invasion of Dagestan . Putin's war effort was hugely popular and portrayed positively by the Boris Berezovsky - owned Channel One Russia as well as by state - controlled RTR . </P>

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