Time in Russia

"Russian time" redirects here. For the auto racing team known as Russian Time, see Motopark Academy.
Time in Russia
Time Zone
UTC+02:00 MSK−1: Kaliningrad Time
UTC+03:00 MSK: Moscow Time
UTC+04:00 MSK+1: Samara Time
UTC+05:00 MSK+2: Yekaterinburg Time
UTC+06:00 MSK+3: Omsk Time
UTC+07:00 MSK+4: Krasnoyarsk Time
UTC+08:00 MSK+5: Irkutsk Time
UTC+09:00 MSK+6: Yakutsk Time
UTC+10:00 MSK+7: Vladivostok Time
UTC+11:00 MSK+8: Srednekolymsk Time
UTC+12:00 MSK+9: Kamchatka Time

There are eleven time zones in Russia, which currently observe times ranging from UTC+02:00 to UTC+12:00.

List of zones

Since October 2014, the time zones are as follows:[1]

Time Zone Name Time of day and abbreviation(s) UTC offset Area covered
Kaliningrad Time 09:42, May 1, 2015 USZ1 () UTC+02 Kaliningrad Oblast
Moscow Time 10:42, May 1, 2015 MSK () UTC+03 Most of European Russia, excluding federal subjects from UTC+02, UTC+04 and UTC+05 timezones
Samara Time 11:42, May 1, 2015 SAMT () UTC+04 Samara Oblast, Udmurtia
Yekaterinburg Time 12:42, May 1, 2015 YEKT () UTC+05 Bashkortostan, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Kurgan Oblast, Orenburg Oblast, Perm Krai, Sverdlovsk Oblast (partly in Europe), Tyumen Oblast, and Yamalia
Omsk Time 13:42, May 1, 2015 OMST () UTC+06 Altai Krai, Altai Republic, Novosibirsk Oblast, Omsk Oblast and Tomsk Oblast
Krasnoyarsk Time 14:42, May 1, 2015 KRAT () UTC+07 Kemerovo Oblast, Khakassia, Krasnoyarsk Krai and Tuva
Irkutsk Time 15:42, May 1, 2015 IRKT () UTC+08 Irkutsk Oblast, Buryatia and Zabaykalsky Krai
Yakutsk Time 16:42, May 1, 2015 YAKT () UTC+09 Amur Oblast, most of Sakha Republic
Vladivostok Time 17:42, May 1, 2015 VLAT () UTC+10 Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, Magadan Oblast, Primorsky Krai, Sakhalin Oblast (except its easternmost district in the Kuril Islands) and the Oymyakonsky, Ust-Yansky and Verkhoyansky districts of Sakha Republic
Srednekolymsk Time 18:42, May 1, 2015 SRET () UTC+11 Abyysky, Allaikhovsky, Momsky, Nizhnekolymsky, Srednekolymsky and Verkhnekolymsky districts of the Sakha Republic and Severo-Kurilsky District of the Sakhalin Oblast
Kamchatka Time 19:42, May 1, 2015 PETT () UTC+12 Chukotka and Kamchatka Krai

Daylight saving time

Prior to 2011, Russia moved its clocks backward and forward on the same annual cycle as Europe. On 27 March 2011, clocks were advanced as usual, but they did not go back that October, effectively making Moscow Time UTC+4 permanently.[2] On 26 October 2014, following another change in the law, the clocks in most of the country were moved back one hour, but DST was not reintroduced; Moscow Time returned to UTC+3 permanently.[3]

History of zone boundaries

In the Russian Empire, most of the nation observed solar time. During the late 19th century, Moscow Mean Time was introduced, originally at UTC+02:30. However, when the Soviet Union was created, Moscow Time became UTC+02 and the various other time zones (up to UTC+12) were introduced throughout Russia and the rest of the Soviet Union. On 21 June 1930, the Soviet Union advanced all clocks by one hour, effectively making the nation run on daylight saving time all year (the so-called decree time). In 1980, daylight saving time (two hours ahead of standard time) was introduced; clocks were moved one hour forward on the last Sunday of March and one hour back on the last Sunday of September (October since 1996). Russia and most republics in the Soviet Union abolished the decree time (not moving the clocks) on 31 March 1991, but Russia reversed this the following year.

In 1992, the Government of Russia issued a resolution establishing the borders of the eleven time zones dividing the country's territory.[4] During the following years, various clauses of the resolution were superseded by other laws, reassigning various federal subjects to different time zones (mostly abolishing the decree time).

In November 2009, President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev proposed reducing the number of time zones spanning the country,[5] as well as the abolition of daylight saving time.

1993 zone boundary changes

On 23 May 1993 00:00:00, Novosibirsk Oblast changed its time zone from MSK+4 to MSK+3.[6]

The change occurred during DST effectively changing the offset from UTC+8 to UTC+7, the offset without DST was therefore changed from UTC+7 to UTC+6.

2002 zone boundary changes

11 time zones in Russia from 2002 to 2010

  UTC+02 Kaliningrad Time
  UTC+03 Moscow Time
  UTC+04 Samara Time
  UTC+05 Yekaterinburg Time
  UTC+06 Omsk Time/ Novosibirsk Time

  UTC+07 Krasnoyarsk Time
  UTC+08 Irkutsk Time
  UTC+09 Yakutsk Time
  UTC+10 Vladivostok Time
  UTC+11 Magadan Time
  UTC+12 Kamchatka Time

In 2002, Tomsk Oblast changed its time zone from MSK+4 to MSK+3.[7]

2010 zone boundary changes

April 2010: 9 zones

On 28 March 2010, the following changes were introduced, which, in particular, led to abolition of two of the eleven time zones.

Although the Russian government wants to reduce the number of time zones even further, there have been protests in far-eastern Russia on the recent changes, including protests and a 20,000-strong petition in support of Kamchatka returning to UTC+12.[12]

2011 zone boundary changes

September 2011: 9 zones, "permanent DST".

The decree No. 725 [13] (31 August 2011) defines Moscow Time and lists the zones, numbered 1 to 9 and in turn defined relative to Moscow Time. The offsets from UTC are altered, the reference zone, Moscow Time Zone, now uses UTC+04:00. This is similar to the 1930 USSR reform with decree time coming into operation. The notions of decree time and daylight saving time were abolished in the law, but in fact, this law mandated permanent daylight saving time (or even double daylight saving time in regions that had not abolished the decree time).

As a result some districts of the Sakha Republic switched from Vladivostok Time to Yakutsk Time (Zone 7):

Some districts switched from Magadan Time to Vladivostok Time:

Blue Yakutsk Time (MSK+6), pink Vladivostok Time (MSK+7), red Magadan Time (MSK+8).

2014 zone boundary changes

As a result of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, local authorities in the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol decreed that clocks in the newly proclaimed Russian federal subjects should jump ahead two hours at 10 p.m. on 29 March 2014 to switch from Eastern European Time to Moscow Time.[14]

In July 2014, further changes were passed, which took effect on 26 October 2014. All of Russia moved back one hour, except:[15]

Annual DST changes will not be observed.[16]

Time zones in Russia, difference with standard time

Railway time

All timetables on Russian Railways (except Sakhalin railways) follow Moscow Time.[17] Airports, however, follow local time.[18]

tz database

http://efele.net/maps/tz/russia – data from 2009

For Russia, the tz database contains several zones in the file zone.tab.

List of zones

The list below shows the 16 zones for Russia as defined in the file zone.tab of the database. The database aims to identify regions that had the same time offset rules since 1970.

Two zones, namely Asia/Omsk and Asia/Novosibirsk, each cover area that did not observe the same rule set since 1970, all now using Omsk Time.

On the last Sunday in October 2011, daylight-saving time ended in tzdata, but all zones moved forward one hour. In other words, the clocks did not change, but the names of the time zones reverted permanently to their standard time variants and there will be no more daylight-saving time going forward.

If available, the change column lists the offset changes that caused a creation of a new zone in the tz database.

"Initial zone" means that in 1970 there was already a difference in time offset from the offsets in any other zone.

C.c. Coordinates tzid Comments UTC offset (without DST, permanent since 2011) Covered area Split from Changes
RU +5443+02030 Europe/Kaliningrad Moscow-01 - Kaliningrad +02:00 Kaliningrad Oblast Initial zone
RU +5545+03735 Europe/Moscow Moscow+00 - west Russia +03:00 Most of European Russia. Complete list given here. Initial zone
RU +4844+04425 Europe/Volgograd Moscow+00 - Caspian Sea +03:00 Kirov Oblast, Saratov Oblast, Volgograd Oblast, and Astrakhan Oblast Europe/Samara 1992-03-29 Zone creation, causing change from UTC+04 to UTC+03
RU +5312+05009 Europe/Samara Moscow+00 (Moscow+01 after 2014-10-26) - Samara, Udmurtia +04:00 Samara Oblast and Udmurtia Initial zone 2010-03-28 Change from UTC+04 to UTC+03
RU +5651+06036 Asia/Yekaterinburg Moscow+02 - Urals +05:00 Bashkortostan, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Kurgan Oblast, Orenburg Oblast, Perm Krai, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Tyumen Oblast, and Yamalia Initial zone
RU +5500+07324 Asia/Omsk Moscow+03 - west Siberia +06:00 Altai Krai, Altai Republic, and Omsk Oblast
  • 1995-05-28 Zone creation, causing change from UTC+07 to UTC+06
  • 1992-01-19 Change from UTC+05 to UTC+06
RU +5502+08255 Asia/Novosibirsk Moscow+03 - Novosibirsk +06:00 Novosibirsk Oblast and Tomsk Oblast.
  • 2002-05-01 Change from UTC+07 to UTC+06[7]
RU +5345+08707 Asia/Novokuznetsk Moscow+03 (Moscow+04 after 2014-10-26) - Kemerovo +07:00 Kemerovo Oblast Asia/Novosibirsk 2010-03-28 Zone creation, causing change from Krasnoyarsk Time to Novosibirsk Time[19]
RU +5601+09250 Asia/Krasnoyarsk Moscow+04 - Yenisei River +07:00 Khakassia, Krasnoyarsk Krai, and Tuva Republic
RU +5216+10420 Asia/Irkutsk Moscow+05 - Lake Baikal +08:00 Irkutsk Oblast and Buryatia
RU +6200+12940 Asia/Yakutsk Moscow+06 - Lena River +09:00 Amur Oblast, Zabaykalsky Krai, and western Sakha Republic
RU +4310+13156 Asia/Vladivostok Moscow+07 - Amur River +10:00 Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, Primorsky Krai, and central Sakha Republic Initial zone
RU +4658+14242 Asia/Sakhalin Moscow+07 - Sakhalin Island +10:00 Sakhalin Island, and western Kuril Islands Asia/Magadan 1997-03-30 Zone creation, causing change from UTC+11 to UTC+10
RU +643337+1431336 Asia/Ust-Nera Moscow+07 - Oymyakonsky +10:00 Oymyakonsky District Asia/Yakutsk 1981-04-01 Changed to Magadan time
RU +5934+15048 Asia/Magadan Moscow+08 (Moscow+07 after 2014-10-26) - Magadan +10:00 Magadan Oblast Initial zone 2014-10-26 Split: Magadan Oblast changed to Vladivostok time, other areas using new Srednekolymsk time
RU +6728+15343 Asia/Srednekolymsk Moscow+08 - E Sakha, N Kuril Is +11:00 eastern Kuril Islands, and eastern Sakha Republic Asia/Magadan 2014-10-26
RU +5301+15839 Asia/Kamchatka Moscow+08 (Moscow+09 after 2014-10-26) - Kamchatka +12:00 Kamchatka Krai Initial zone 2010-03-28 Change from UTC+12 to UTC+11
RU +6445+17729 Asia/Anadyr Moscow+08 (Moscow+09 after 2014-10-26) - Bering Sea +12:00 Chukotka Autonomous Okrug Initial zone
  • 1982-04-01 Changed from UTC+13 to UTC+12
  • 2010-03-28 Changed from UTC+12 to UTC+11

Deleted zones

Asia/Ulan Ude was a time zone identifier from the zone file of the tz database. The reference point was Ulan-Ude. It was added in tz version 2011e.[20]

Federal subjects with multiple offsets at the same time

Per a 2011 law[21] the territories of Sakhalin Oblast and Sakha Republic each observe more than one offset.

Sakha Republic
Sakhalin Oblast

See also

References

  1. ↑ New Russian Time Zones as of August 31, 2011 according to Decree 725 of the Government of the Russian Federation, World Time Zone, August 31, 2011.
  2. ↑ "Медведев отменил зимнее время". Lenta.ru. 8 February 2011. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  3. ↑ Russian clocks go back for last time, BBC News, 25 October 2014
  4. ↑ Правительство Российской Федерации. Постановление №23 от 8 января 1992 г. «О порядке исчисления времени на территории Российской Федерации». (Government of the Russian Federation. Resolution #23 of 8 January 1992 On the Procedures of Keeping Time on the Territory of the Russian Federation. ).
  5. ↑ "Russian president Dmitry Medvedev wants to cut 11 time zones.". BBC News. 15 November 2009.
  6. ↑ Time changes in year 1993 for Russia – Novosibirsk. Timeanddate.com. Retrieved on 2014-06-07.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Новости NEWSru.com :: С 1 мая Томская область перешла в новый часовой пояс. Newsru.com. Retrieved on 2014-06-07.
  8. ↑ Правительство Российской Федерации. Постановление №166 от 17 марта 2010 г. «О применении на территории Удмуртской Республики времени второго часового пояса». Опубликован: "Российская Газета", №58, 22 марта 2010 г. (Government of the Russian Federation. Resolution #166 of 17 March 2010 On Using the Time of the Second Time Zone on the Territory of the Udmurt Republic. ).
  9. ↑ Правительство Российской Федерации. Постановление №170 от 19 марта 2010 г. «О применении на территории Самарской области времени второго часового пояса». Опубликован: "Российская Газета", №58, 22 марта 2010 г. (Government of the Russian Federation. Resolution #170 of 19 March 2010 On Using the Time of the Second Time Zone on the Territory of Samara Oblast. ).
  10. ↑ Правительство Российской Федерации. Постановление №740 от 14 сентября 2009 г. «О применении на территории Кемеровской области времени пятого часового пояса». (Government of the Russian Federation. Resolution #740 of 14 September 2009 On Using the Time of the Fifth Time Zone on the Territory of Kemerovo Oblast. ).
  11. ↑ Правительство Российской Федерации. Постановление №171 от 19 марта 2010 г. «О применении на территории Камчатского края и Чукотского автономного округа времени десятого часового пояса». Опубликован: "Российская Газета", №58, 22 марта 2010 г. (Government of the Russian Federation. Resolution #171 of 19 March 2010 On Using the Time of the Tenth Time Zone on the Territory of Kamchatka Krai and Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. ).
  12. ↑ "Thousands Protest Time Zone Changes in Russia". 2010-12-13. Retrieved 2011-01-15.
  13. ↑ Постановление Правительства Российской Федерации № 725 от 31 августа 2011 г. «О составе территорий, образующих каждую часовую зону, и порядке исчисления времени в часовых зонах, а также о признании утратившими силу отдельных постановлений Правительства Российской Федерации».
  14. ↑ "Crimea switches to Moscow time". Voice of Russia. 29 March 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  15. ↑ New Russian time zones and the corresponding areas from October 26, 2014, World Time Zone, July 22, 2014.
  16. ↑ Russia Moving to Permanent Winter Time From October 26, RIA Novosti 22 July 2014, retrieved 26 July 2014
  17. ↑ Russian Railways – Time tables
  18. ↑ for example http://www.iktport.ru/
  19. ↑ proposed time zone package changes. Gmane. Retrieved on 2014-06-07.
  20. ↑ proposeed time zone package changes Chile Russia Irkutsk Buryatia Morocco. Gmane. Retrieved on 2014-06-07.
  21. ↑ Постановление от 31 августа 2011 г. №725 (in Russian). Government.ru. Retrieved 29 December 2011.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Time zones of Russia.
Wikinews has related news: Russia removes two timezones