NEWS

United Russia Bear Has Its Color Washed Out

The St. Petersburg Times

The United Russia party approved a new logo at its sixth congress in Krasnoyarsk on Saturday, retiring the brown bear on its colorful emblem in favor of a white bear and a more minimalist approach.

The new logo features a white bear with a blue outline striding above the party’s name in block letters. Above is a waving Russian tricolor on a white background.

The party’s old logo featured a brown bear beneath the party’s name with the tricolor in the background and an orange map of Russia, with a red star on Moscow, at the top.

State Duma Speaker and United Russia leader Boris Gryzlov said Saturday that the change made the logo “more interesting and dynamic, and all congress participants agree with this.”

“As far as the cost of production of the new emblem is concerned, it will be cheaper because it uses only two main colors, while the old one had four,” Gryzlov said, Regnum.ru reported Saturday.

“We brushed, shampooed and dyed the bear,” Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu, another United Russia leader, said on NTV television.

Also at Saturday’s congress, the party confirmed the new make-up of its supreme council.

Some 2,000 participants attended the congress, including delegations from Armenia, Estonia, Italy, Kazakhstan, Lithuania and Ukraine, state television channels reported Saturday.

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, the unsuccessful presidential candidate backed by the Kremlin in last year’s Ukrainian elections, attended the conference as a guest.

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