[3] In 1994 Burkov was elected a deputy of the Sverdlovsk Oblast Duma from the Party of Russian Unity and Accord.

In April 1999, Burkov was elected chairman of the regional Council of the Workers' Movement for Social Guarantees "May" created by Anton Bakov.

In October, the "May" movement was reformed into the "Peace, Labour, May" electoral bloc, which received 0.57% of the vote in the 1999 Russian legislative election.

In 2000, Burkov became a deputy of the Sverdlovsk Oblast Duma (lower house of the Legislative Assembly) by May's party list.

[6] Burkov joined A Just Russia party in 2007 and was appointed Secretary of the Council of its regional branch in Sverdlovsk Oblast.

[9] Burkov came third in the race, surpassed by Yakov Silin of United Russia and Yevgeny Roizman of the Civic Platform.

According to media reports, a criminal case was opened to put pressure on Alexander, who ran for the mayor of Yekaterinburg.