The four-year deal will see Unilever Russia promote its brands, which include Brooke Bond, Timotei and Calvin Klein, on TV channels in Russia, Ukraine and Belorussia.
Video International has a 70% share of the Russian TV advertising market and sells space on The 1st Channel, Russia, CTC, Ren TV, Sport, Euronews, M1 and leading Ukrainian and Belorussian channels.
Sergei Vasiliev, general director of Video International, said: "For today, it is the longest agreement we concluded anywhere. Until now, the longest contracts [three years] were with Mars and Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods, which will expire at the end of 2004."
Experts estimated that Unilever Russia spent $30m (£18.9m) on advertising in 2002 and will be looking to increase its budget this year.
According to Vasiliev, the contract with Unilever envisages the persistent growth of the Russian market over the next few years.
This prediction is shared by Maxim Pavlushin, corporate affairs director of Unilever Russia, who said: "We quite thoroughly negotiated the terms of the agreement and its contents satisfy us. We consider this deal is one of the best on the market."
Video International has representative offices in 25 regions and sales offices in 10 more. It generated $1bn in turnover last year.
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