MOSCOW, December 22 (Itar-Tass) —— Russia’s labor legislation must be sensibly conservative, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting of the trilateral commission for settling social-labor relations on Friday.

“Our labor legislation is changing largely through the efforts that you have been exerting,” he told those present. “I believe that it must be sensibly conservative. It cannot be polar. It cannot be what it was in the Soviet era. It cannot represent the interests of this or that party to a greater degree. It is to maintain a balance.”

Medvedev warned that some extreme ideas voiced now and then were able to turn society upside down.

“Our country needs effective and up-to-date jobs. We cannot afford to perpetuate the situation that we have inherited,” Medvedev said.