During the Russian Civil War, Unt worked to establish bolshevik rule in Ukraine and Saratov.

After being accused of looting and sentenced to death in absentia, he fled to the area occupied by the White Army under Anton Denikin, before returning to the newly independent Republic of Estonia in 1920.

[2][3] Prior to the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1940), Unt was appointed by Andrei Zhdanov, the Soviet emissary to Estonia, to organize pro-Stalinist demonstrations and strikes across the country, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Jüri Uluots.

[4] After the Soviet occupation, Unt was appointed as Minister of the Interior in Johannes Vares' cabinet on 21 June 1940.

He was arrested on 22 May 1941 by Soviet authorities and dismissed from his position as People's Commissar of Labour on 28 May.