Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday he had ordered acting First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov to submit proposals for increasing the role of public councils in governing the country.
Such councils should be given the right to evaluate the effectiveness of executive authorities’ work, and their opinion should be taken into account, Medvedev said at a meeting with acting government officials.
He repeated his view that public councils should involve “awkward” opposition figures whose “constructive criticism” would help improve the work of government bodies.
Medvedev, who was Russia’s president for four years, replaced Vladimir Putin as prime minister on May 8, the day after handing over the presidential post to Putin.
Earlier this week, he said he was preparing final proposals on the makeup of a new cabinet, which will then be submitted to Putin for approval.
