(1953– )
Politician. Currently the chairman of the Federation Council, Sergey Mironov established himself on the St. Petersburg political scene during the mid-1990s. In 2001, he gained a seat in the upper house of parliament representing the former capital. He led the short-lived Russian Party of Life before it was folded into the pro-Kremlin Fair Russia party. In 2006, he took up the leadership of Fair Russia, making him the ostensible leader of the opposition. However, his strong support of Vladimir Putin sapped this distinction of any real meaning. (In 2004, Mironov ran for president, but publicly stated that Putin would be victorious, thus undermining his own campaign.) He has consistently lobbied for an end to the two-consecutive-term limit on the president’s office and an extension of the presidential term.
See also Politics.
Historical Dictionary of the Russian Federation. Robert A. Saunders and Vlad Strukov. 2010.