14/7 Tass 275
ST. PETERSBURG, July 14 (Itar-Tass) —— The newly appointed head of the Russian interior ministry’s administration in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, Mikhail Sukhodolsky, has pledged to oblige his subjects to do sports in order to be in a good physical shape.
“Everybody will take exercises,” he said.
“A police officer who patrols the streets must be in a good physical shape to protect himself and people,” he told journalists. He admitted that policemen often opt not to interfere with street brawls out of the fear for their own health. In his words, modular training techniques will be used to increase skills and knowledge of police officers, primarily patrolmen.
“A policeman must be a bit of a psychologist to be able to speak to people in a proper way and take adequate steps at a crime or accident scene,” he noted.
Sukhodolsky, who previously was first deputy interior minister, said his appointment to Russia’s second largest city was in no way a downgrading.
“I consider my secondment as a sign of trust from the president and the government,” he said. “It is a daring task to lead one of the biggest police departments.”
He pledged his appointment will entail no large-scale personnel changes. “There will be no other officers from other regions,” he promised.
In June 2011, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made a number of personnel reshuffles in the Russian interior ministry. He dismissed a number of top-ranking ministry officials, including Sukhodolsky. Police lieutenant general Alexander Gorovoi replaced him at the ministry post, while Sukhodolsky succeeded to Vladislav Piotrovsky of St. Petersburg police administration.