 | ||
There are eleven time zones in Russia, which currently observe times ranging from UTC+02:00 to UTC+12:00. Daylight saving time is not used in Russia (since March 2011).
Contents
- List of zones
- Daylight saving time
- Introduction of a time zone
- 1919 time change
- 1930 time change
- Re introduction of a daylight saving time in 1981
- 1981 zone boundary changes
- 1982 zone boundary changes
- 1988 zone boundary changes
- 1989 zone boundary changes
- 1991 and 1992 time changes
- 1993 zone boundary changes
- 1995 zone boundary changes
- 1997 zone boundary changes
- 2002 zone boundary changes
- 2004 zone boundary changes
- 2010 zone boundary changes
- 2011 time and zone boundary changes
- 2014 time and zone boundary changes
- 2016 zone boundary changes
- Railway time
- tz database
- Deleted zones
- Federal subjects with multiple offsets at the same time
- References
List of zones
Since 4 December 2016, the time zones are as follows:
Daylight saving time
Daylight saving time in Russia was originally introduced on 30 June [13 July, N.S.] 1917 by a decree of the Russian Provisional Government. However, it was abandoned by a Decree of the Soviet government five months later.
Daylight saving time was re-introduced in the USSR on 1 April 1981, by a decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Daylight saving time began on 1 April and ended on 1 October each year, until mid-1984, when the USSR began following European daylight saving time rules, moving clocks forward one hour at 02:00 local standard time on the last Sunday in March, and back one hour at 03:00 local daylight time on the last Sunday in September until 1995, after which the change back occurred on the last Sunday in October. The usage of daylight saving time continued after the Soviet collapse but ended in 2011, when Russia stopped observing daylight saving time.
On 27 March 2011, clocks were advanced as usual, but they did not go back on 30 October 2011, effectively making Moscow Time UTC+4 permanently. On 26 October 2014, following another change in the law, the clocks in most of the country were moved back one hour, but summer Daylight Time was not reintroduced; Moscow Time returned to UTC+3 permanently.
Introduction of a time zone
In the Russian Empire, most of the nation observed solar time. During the late 19th century, Moscow Mean Time was introduced on 1 January [13 January, N.S.] 1880, originally at GMT+02:30:17. 2:30:17 corresponds to 37.6166667°, the longitude of Moscow. Other parts of Russia kept solar time for several years. At this time, Russia had the Julian calendar with 12 or 13 days less date compared to Western Europe, so it is possible to say the Moscow actually had GMT-285:29:43 (GMT-11d 21h 29m 43s) (29 February [12 March, N.S.] 1800 − 28 February [12 March, N.S.] 1900), GMT-309:29:43 (GMT-12d 21h 29m 43s) (29 February [13 March, N.S.] 1900 − 3 July [16 July, N.S.] 1916) and GMT-309:28:41 (GMT-12d 21h 28m 41s) (3 July [16 July, N.S.] 1916 − 31 January [13 February, N.S.] 1918). Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar on Thursday, 14 February 1918, which most of Europe already used.
1919 time change
After the Soviet Union was created, Moscow Time became UTC+2 and the various other time zones (up to UTC+12) were introduced throughout Russia and the rest of the Soviet Union, for example Irkutsk Time GMT+7 (Irkutsk has since this always been MSK+5). Between 1917-1922 the time was less ordered, with daylight savings time some of those years, some with two hours addition, and some of those years with one or two hours extra winter time.
1930 time change
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). Moscow Time was now GMT+3 and Irkutsk Time GMT+8 (MSK+5).
Re-introduction of a daylight saving time in 1981
On 1 April 1981, daylight saving time (two hours ahead of standard time) was re-introduced; clocks were moved one hour forward on 1 April (the last Sunday of March since 1985) and one hour back on 1 October (the last Sunday of September since 1984, the last Sunday of October since 1996).
1981 zone boundary changes
On 1 April 1981, 00:00:00, Oymyakonsky District changed its time zone from MSK+6 to MSK+8.
The change occurred during DST effectively changing the offset from UTC+9 to UTC+12, the offset without DST was therefore changed from UTC+9 to UTC+11.
1982 zone boundary changes
On 1 April 1982, 00:00:00, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug changed its time zone from MSK+10 to MSK+9, thus eliminating Anadyr Time (MSK+10 or UTC+13 without DST).
The change occurred during DST effectively changing the offset from UTC+14 to UTC+13, the offset without DST was therefore changed from UTC+13 to UTC+12.
1988 zone boundary changes
On 27 March 1988, 02:00:00, Saratov and Volgograd oblasts changed its time zone from MSK+1 to MSK.
The change occurred during DST effectively changing the offset from UTC+5 to UTC+4, the offset without DST was therefore changed from UTC+4 to UTC+3.
1989 zone boundary changes
On 26 March 1989, the following changes were introduced, which, in particular, some oblasts switched from Samara Time to Moscow Time:
Some oblasts switched from Moscow Time to Eastern European Time:
1991 and 1992 time changes
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.
1993 zone boundary changes
On 23 May 1993, 00:00:00, Novosibirsk Oblast changed its time zone from MSK+4 to MSK+3.
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.
1995 zone boundary changes
On 28 May 1995, 00:00:00, Altai Krai and Altai Republic changed its time zone from MSK+4 to MSK+3.
1997 zone boundary changes
On 30 March 1997, 02:00:00, Sakhalin Oblast changed its time zone from MSK+8 to MSK+7.
2002 zone boundary changes
On 1 May 2002, 03:00:00, Tomsk Oblast changed its time zone from MSK+4 to MSK+3.
2004 zone boundary changes
On 1 January 2004, 00:00:00, New Siberian Islands, Tomponsky District and Ust-Maysky District changed its time zone from MSK+6 to MSK+7.
2010 zone boundary changes
The following time zone changes occurred on 28 March 2010, 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.
2011 time and zone boundary changes
The decree No. 725 (31 August 2011) changed UTC offset for Moscow Time and the other time zones. Moscow Time Zone now used UTC+04:00 all year around. 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).
Some areas changed offset from Moscow. On 13 September 2011, some districts of the Sakha Republic switched from Magadan Time (Zone 9) to Vladivostok Time (from Zone 8):
Some districts of the Sakha Republic switched from Vladivostok Time (Zone 8) to Yakutsk Time (Zone 7):
Blue Yakutsk Time (MSK+6), pink Vladivostok Time (MSK+7), red Magadan Time (MSK+8).
2014 time and 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 22:00 on 29 March 2014 to switch from Eastern European Time (UTC+2) to Moscow Time (UTC+4).
On 22 July 2014, further changes were passed, which took effect on 26 October 2014. All of Russia moved back one hour, so Moscow Time became UTC+3. Some areas changed offset from Moscow:
Annual DST changes is not observed.
2016 zone boundary changes
The following time zone changes occurred on 27 March 2016:
The following time zone change occurred on 24 April 2016:
After these changes, the UTC+11:00 time zone is also named Magadan Time or Sakhalin Time.
The following time zone change occurred on 29 May 2016:
The following time zone change occurred on 24 July 2016:
The following time zone change occurred on 4 December 2016:
Railway time
All timetables on Russian Railways (except Sakhalin railways) follow Moscow Time. Airports, however, follow local time.
tz database
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 federal subjects are contained in more than one tz zone. The Sakha Republic is divided into three: west, central, east. Sakhalin Oblast is divided into two: Sakhalin Island with Kurilsky and Yuzhno-Kurilsky districts in the Kuril Islands, and Severo-Kurilsky District in the Kuril Islands.
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.
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.
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.
Federal subjects with multiple offsets at the same time
Per a 2011 law, last amended in 2016, the territory of Sakha Republic observes more than one offset.