The party has largely remained loyal to the government and to president Vladimir Putin. The party's current leader, Sergey Mironov, even famously stated during his own run for presidency in the 2004 presidential election that he was going to vote for and support Putin. Mironov said at the time he was running because "when a leader you believe in goes into battle, you can’t leave him alone, you must stand with him." When founding A Just Russia two years later, Mironov stated that the new party would "follow the course of President Vladimir Putin and will not allow anyone to veer from it after Putin leaves his post." The party does not represent a serious threat to United Russia's political dominance.