Preved

In Russian, MEDVED () is an abbreviation of the name of the Interregional Unity Movement ( - a pro-government movement that formed a faction in the 3rd State Duma (1999-2002), long before the appearance of the Internet meme. The movement's logo featured a brown bear. In 2002, the Interregional Unity Movement merged into the newly formed United Russia party. United Russia adopted the Unity bear logo, later changing its color from brown to white. This, along with the Internet meme, influenced the fact that the word "medved" is often associated with Dmitry Medvedev, President of Russia from 2008 to 2012. During an internet conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on 6 July 2006, during which all interested Runet users asked him questions through a Yandex portal, the question "PREVED, Vladimir Vladimirovich! How do you feel about MEDVED?" received the largest number of votes (28,424). This event played a significant role in the "Preved-Medved" meme gaining fame and popularity even among those who rarely use the Internet. In the end, the question was not asked to Putin (the organizers considered this and some other questions to be a flash mob); the question "How do you feel about the ''Medved''' magazine?" was asked instead. Some representatives of non-Russian press took the original "Medved" question literally; in particular, Associated Press reportedly interpreted it as a reference to then-deputy prime minister Dmitry Medvedev. ==See also==