There are 11 time zones in Russia, which currently observe times ranging from UTC+02:00 to UTC+12:00. Daylight saving time (DST) has not been used in Russia since 26 October 2014. From 27 March 2011 to 26 October 2014, permanent DST was used. About 63% of the Russian population live in MSK (UTC+03:00). __TOC__
List of zones Since 27 December 2020, the time zones are as follows:Federal law of 3 June 2011 no. 107-FZ (as amended on 14 April 2023) "On the calculation of time", Article 5. Time zones, Consultant Plus .Russia time zones map with current local time, World Time Zone, 28 October 2018.Time Zones Currently Being Used in Russia, Timeanddate.com. Time zone name Time of day and abbreviation UTC offset MSK offset Area covered Population (2024) Kaliningrad Time UTC+02:00 MSK−1h Kaliningrad Oblast1,033,914 Moscow Time UTC+03:00 MSK+0h Most of European Russia (excluding federal subjects in UTC+02:00, UTC+04:00 and UTC+05:00 time zones)90,966,037 Samara Time UTC+04:00 MSK+1h Astrakhan Oblast, Samara Oblast, Saratov Oblast, Udmurtia and Ulyanovsk Oblast9,066,773 Yekaterinburg Time UTC+05:00 MSK+2h Bashkortostan, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Kurgan Oblast, Orenburg Oblast, Perm Krai, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Tyumen Oblast and Yamalia20,650,578 Omsk Time UTC+06:00 MSK+3h Omsk Oblast1,818,093 Krasnoyarsk Time UTC+07:00 MSK+4h Altai Krai, Altai Republic, Kemerovo Oblast, Khakassia, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Novosibirsk Oblast, Tomsk Oblast and Tuva12,418,513 Irkutsk Time UTC+08:00 MSK+5h Irkutsk Oblast and Buryatia3,302,459 Yakutsk Time UTC+09:00 MSK+6h Amur Oblast, Zabaykalsky Krai and most of the Sakha Republic (excluding districts in UTC+10:00 and UTC+11:00 time zones)2,687,353 Vladivostok Time UTC+10:00 MSK+7h Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, Primorsky Krai, and the Oymyakonsky, Ust-Yansky and Verkhoyansky districts of the Sakha Republic3,254,616 Magadan Time UTC+11:00 MSK+8h Magadan Oblast, Sakhalin Oblast, and the Abyysky, Allaikhovsky, Momsky, Nizhnekolymsky, Srednekolymsky and Verkhnekolymsky districts of the Sakha Republic615,477 Kamchatka Time UTC+12:00 MSK+9h Chukotka and Kamchatka Krai336,976
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 on 30 October 2011, effectively making Moscow Time UTC+04:00 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 saving time was not reintroduced; Moscow Time returned to UTC+03:00 permanently.Russian clocks go back for last time, BBC News, 25 October 2014
History
Russian Empire In the Russian Empire, most of the nation observed solar time. For 126 years, 2 months and 22 days, which lasted from Wednesday, 15 July [26 July, N.S.] 1741, until Saturday, 7 October [19 October, N.S.] 1867 at 3:30p.m. GMT+14:59 in the capital of New Archangel (Sitka) (00:31 GMT), Alaska belonged to Russia (Russian America) which used the Julian calendar, which was 11 or 12 days behind the Gregorian calendar (as used by the rest of Russia) and had local times up to GMT+15:10. The westernmost area of Russia was Congress Poland, with local times down to GMT+01:10.
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.
Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1918, when Wednesday 31 January (O.S.) was followed by Thursday 14 February (N.S.), which dropped 13 days from the calendar.
Soviet Union After the Soviet Union was created, Moscow Time became UTC+02:00 and the various other time zones (up to UTC+12:00) were introduced throughout Russia and the rest of the Soviet Union, for example Irkutsk Time UTC+07:00 (Irkutsk has since this always been MSK+5). Between 1917 and 1922 the time was less ordered, with daylight saving time some of those years, some with two hours addition, and some of those years with one or two hours extra winter time.
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).
Decree time In 1930, according to the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR clocks across the country were moved forward by 1 hour from 21 June to 30 September, but the effect of this decree was then extended — later this time became known as decree time. The extension was due to a lack of electricity due to overloading of power plants in winter in the evening hours. In 1931, the Supreme Council of the National Economy proposed moving the clocks forward another hour, but the State Planning Committee opposed it. In 1935, a return to standard time was planned, which was never implemented.
Changes after 1937 After 1937 changes were made that eliminated the use of different times in relatively small areas. Thus, daylight saving time in some regions (in their western part) was changed by 1 hour forward, already 2 hours ahead of the standard time established in 1924, and in others (in the eastern part) - by 1 hour back, that is, the "daylight saving hour" was effectively abolished.
From 1 December 1956, the official boundaries of time zones were to change, in particular to eliminate the presence of a number of regions in two time zones. As a result, daylight saving time in a number of places had to change either by 1 hour forward or by 1 hour back. The clocks were planned to be changed on 1 December 1956 at 00:00 Moscow time, but this happened on 1 March 1957, as reported in the central newspapers.С 1 марта 1957 года: Новые границы часовых поясов // Советская Россия : газета. — 1957. (1 марта). The change of clocks in the regions was described in local newspapers. Thus, in the regional newspaper in the Molotov region it was noted that "today, on 1 March, in the Karagai, Ocher, Sivinsky, Vereshchaginsky regions of our region the working day began an hour earlier than before. (…) Now in our entire region the time differs from Moscow by two hours".По новому времени // Звезда : газета. — 1957. (1 марта).
After the 1957 reform, some regions in the European part of the RSFSR, located to the east of Moscow, officially remaining in the 3rd time zone, switched to Moscow time, thereby effectively abolishing the “decree hour” on all or part of their territory.
By 1962, the time zone established in 1924 was 2 hours ahead of the standard time in some parts of the following regions: Altai Krai, Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Novosibirsk, Perm, Sakhalin (Sakhalin Island), Tomsk, Tyumen and Chita regions of the RSFSR, Ural region of the Kazakh SSR, as well as a number of other regions.
By 1973, the "decree hour" was abolished in the following regions (in all or part of the region's territory):Малый атлас СССР, М., ГУГК при СМ СССР, 1973
Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Kalmykia, Komi, Mari, Mordovian, North Ossetian, Tatar, Chechen-Ingush, Chuvash, Yakut ASSR (Ust-Maisky and Tomponsky districts); Krasnodar, Stavropol, Krasnoyarsk, Khabarovsk territories; Amur, Arkhangelsk, Vladimir, Vologda, Voronezh, Gorky, Ivanovo, Irkutsk, Kostroma, Lipetsk, Magadan, Penza, Rostov, Ryazan, Tambov, Tyumen, Yaroslavl regions. In 1977-1980, the Komi ASSR switched to Moscow time, which effectively meant the abolition of daylight saving time in the western part of the republic, including Syktyvkar, and the establishment of “zone time minus 1 hour” in the eastern part
Introduction of daylight saving time From 1 April 1981, the country introduced regular switching of clocks to summer time.Михайлов А. А. Часовые пояса и «летнее» время // Наука и жизнь. — 1981. — № 3. — С. 33—34. At the same time, it was necessary to restore the conformity of the applied time with the administrative time zones, in other words, to restore the “decree hour” that had been cancelled in various years in a number of regions. This was especially true for the regions of the 3rd time zone that switched to Moscow time, where, as of 1980, only Astrakhan, Volgograd, Izhevsk, Kirov, Kuibyshev (Samara), Saratov and Ulyanovsk retained their local time.
On 1 April 1981, all regions moved their clocks forward by 1 hour, and on 1 October 1981, about 30 regions of the RSFSR did not move their clocks back, so that they could switch to summer time in the spring of 1982, relative to the restored decree time. However, due to the discontent of the population, these regions did not move their clocks to summer time in the spring of 1982, and in the fall they moved them back along with everyone else by 1 hour, returning to their usual winter time (without the "decree hour"). Thus, in those regions of the 3rd time zone, where Moscow time was used before 1981, MSK+1 time was in effect only from 1 October 1981 to 1 April 1982. The newspapers noted that the clarification of the boundaries of time zones and the new order of calculating time in them led to a disruption of the usual way of life of people, especially residents of the 3rd time zone, accustomed to Moscow time, and: "Especially in those areas where people watched live TV broadcasts from the capital. Now they sat in front of their TV sets an hour later than the local time count. Hence the many letters asking to restore the previous order.".Скоро переведём стрелки на час // Социалистическая индустрия : газета. — 1982. (10 марта)
After the introduction of seasonal clock changes, local time in the summer in many regions began to be ahead of the standard time established in 1924 by 2 hours, and in some by 3 hours. For example, the average solar noon in the west of Novosibirsk and Tomsk regions in the summer began to occur at 15:00, in the west of Altai Krai - at 14:48, in the west of Chita Oblast (Zabaikalsky Krai since 2008) - at 14:49.
Reforms of the time before the collapse of the USSR In 1988, Volgograd and Saratov regions switched to the time of the neighboring western time zone, that is, they effectively abolished daylight saving time; in 1989, the Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian SSRs, the Astrakhan, Kaliningrad, Kirov, Kuibyshev and Ulyanovsk regions, as well as the Ural region of the Kazakh SSR; in 1990, Georgia and Moldova. In addition, in 1990, some union republics abandoned seasonal clock changes.
From 31 March 1991, decree time was officially abolished throughout the USSR., except for Turkmenistan and the western regions of Uzbekistan. At the same time, the seasonal change of clocks in 1991 was maintained in almost the entire territory of the USSR (except for the Tajik, Turkmen and Uzbek SSRs).
Decree time was abolished without taking into account the fact that in many regions of the RSFSR it had already been abolished. Therefore, in these regions, local time from 29 September 1991 began to lag behind the standard time established in 1924 by 1 hour, and in the country as a whole, "winter" time almost everywhere shifted back by 1 hour.
The abolition of decree time in the union republics in 1989-1991 coincided with the period of the collapse of the USSR.
On 23 October 1991, the Council of the Republic of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, by its resolution, obliged the government to restore daylight saving time on the territory of the RSFSR, stating that the implementation of the resolution of 4 February 1991 "on the abolition of daylight saving time and moving the clock back one hour on 29 September 1991 led to a reduction in the length of daylight hours on a significant part of the territory of the RSFSR, caused discontent among the population and led to an increase in electricity consumption.".
Russian Federation