VLADIVOSTOK, September 4. /TASS/. Introduction of a four-day work week is possible in the long term but not in the next few years, Labor and Social Protection Minister Maxim Topilin told reporters on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) on Wednesday.

"This is not something that will be resolved in the coming years. This is a quite long process. Remember when we had a six-day work week? This was in 1967-1968. How many years have passed? I can say that there are not any precedents when a country switched to a four day work week. This is a certain prospect. Somehow we can talk about this in the future," he said.

Earlier, in an interview with the "Future Russia. National Projects" portal operated by TASS, Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin named the main conditions for the transition to a four-day work week in Russia. These are an increase in incomes and higher labor productivity. However, he did say how soon it would become possible to reducing the work week.

"As Maxim Oreshkin said today, the main thing is to ensure the growth in incomes. So far, our incomes are stagnating; there is no breakthrough in incomes. The task the President set is to reduce poverty," Topilin said.

The minister added that the reduction of the work week can be considered in the framework of the national project "Increasing labor productivity and supporting employment."

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev earlier tasked the Labor and Social Protection Ministry with outlining its stance on the prospects for introducing a four-day working week in Russia by September 30, 2019.

In August, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia sent a proposal to the Labor and Social Protection Ministry to reduce the work week to four days while maintaining salaries. Medvedev instructed the ministry to define its position on the prospects for the transition to a four-day work week. The Prime Minister stressed that the transition should go hand in hand with an increase in labor productivity and maintaining salaries.