In 1985, he received a Candidate of Science— equivalent to a DPhil or PhD in the Anglosphere, in history from the Rostov Higher Party School.

From the late 1970s until the dissolution of the USSR, Mikhailov held various local offices in the Communist Party.

He was re-elected from his constituency to the 2nd State Duma in 1995, and in 1999 he was elected as part of the CPRF party list.

A few months after resigning from his position as governor, Mikhailov was appointed a to represent Kursk Oblast in the Federation Council.

Mikhailov died on the way to the hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest at a political event in Kursk on 4 December 2020.