Topic: Sergei Mironov

Sergey Mikhailovich Mironov (Russian: Сергéй Михáйлович Мирóнов) (born February 14, 1953), is a Russian statesman and the current Speaker of the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament. Sergey Mironov is from Saint Petersburg and is considered to be a close ally of the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. In the 1970's Sergey Mironov served in airborne troops in the Soviet Army. Later he graduated from the Leningrad Mining Institute and worked as an engineer-geophysicist. After a brief time of working as an entrepreneur he entered politics and in 1994 was elected deputy of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly. In June, 2000 he was elected vice-Chairman of St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly and in 2001 entered the Federation Council of Russia as a representative of the St. Petersburg. In December 2001 Sergey Mironov was elected to be a Speaker of the Federation Council. Since February 2003 Sergey Mironov has been the Chairman of the Council of Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of States – members of the Commonwealth of Independent States and since April 2003 - Chairman of the Russian Party of Life.

Mironov was a candidate in the 2004 presidential election. He was not considered to be a serious candidate and was quoted as saying: "We all want Vladimir Putin to be the next president." He polled less than one per cent of the vote.

In October 2006 he became the leader of the new center-left opposition party Fair Russia which was formed by uniting Rodina, Mironov's Russian Party of Life and Russian Pensioners' Party. This effectively makes him the leader of the opposition as the three parties together would be stronger than the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.