‘Being for Putin is the bare minimum’: United Russia declares itself party of the president for first time since 2007

At United Russia’s party congress in Moscow, organizers unveiled a campaign poster of the president bearing the slogan: “Being for Putin is the bare minimum.”

On the poster the Russian letter “z” in the word “za” (“for”) is replaced with the Latin letter Z — the symbol of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A secondary line above the main slogan reads: “United Russia — the party of the president.”

The poster is already in use in campaign outreach across the regions, United Russia told the Russian state news agency TASS.

It is the first time since 2007 that United Russia has declared itself the party of the president. In recent years, Putin has kept a notable distance from the country’s ruling party, whose chairmanship Dmitry Medvedev has held since 2012.

United Russia has traditionally been very cautious about emphasizing its ties to the president during election campaigns. The ruling party made its most prominent and extensive use of Vladimir Putin’s image in 2007, when he headed its federal party list in the State Duma elections. The campaign’s slogan was: “Putin’s Plan Is Russia’s Victory.” Campaign materials also featured more direct slogans, including “United Russia Is Putin’s Party!” in Krasnoyarsk.

Ahead of the 2026 elections, regional branches of United Russia received campaign guidance, Meduza has learned. The recommendations advised local party officials to focus on several “messaging themes,” one of which was the possible authorization to brand United Russia as “Putin’s party.” The document said, however, that this line could be used in the campaign only “after approval.”