President Dmitry Medvedev took a step toward fulfilling a promise to examine residential neighborhoods nationwide Monday, dropping by a six-story apartment building during a trip to Irkutsk to inspect its courtyard and mailboxes.
Medvedev stopped his cortege while driving to a local youth sports school, exiting his car to take a walk through the courtyard and enter the building's hall, where he poked his finger in unlocked gray-green mailboxes.
He praised local authorities for sweeping fallen leaves and constructing a children's playground in the yard, but said more effort could have gone into upkeep of the yard and the building, both of which require repairs, RIA-Novosti reported.
Medvedev, who was accompanied by Irkutsk Governor Dmitry Mezentsev, told reporters that the stop was a spur-of-the-moment decision. But he promised at a recent meeting with heads of several municipalities nationwide that he would conduct such examinations regularly.
He said at the time that he receives many complaints from people who claim local authorities fix the apartment blocks that he is scheduled to visit during regional trips while ignoring other neighborhoods.
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