CORRECT: Min sees Russia minimum wage equal living wage in at least 3 yrs

(Corrects headline, lede, third paragraph to specify term)

MOSCOW, Feb 1 (PRIME) -- Russia’s minimum wage may become equal to the living wage in the next three or more years, Labor and Social Protection Minister Maxim Topilin said on Wednesday at a meeting of the Federation Council, the parliament’s upper house.

“The minimum wage should be equal to the living wage. This equality should be stipulated by a separate federal law. We have created a special working group for that on decision of the State Duma,” he said.

“We assume that we may implement the program in the several years, maybe three years, maybe in a longer period of time, but we think that the minimum wage should be set in the regional scale.”

End