In the 2003 legislative elections, Rodina won 9.2 percent of the vote and ended up with 37 of the 450 seats in the State Duma. "Novaya Gazeta" liberal journalist Anna Politkovskaya stated that Rodina was a chauvinistic organisation that had been "created by the Kremlin's spin doctors" for the 2003 election and the "aim was to draw moderately nationalist voters away from the more extreme National Bolsheviks". "The Guardian" claims that Rodina was "set up by President Vladimir Putin's allies" in 2003 "to leach votes from the Communist party".