You're reading: Putin signs standard ‘winter’ time law

Moscow - Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law reestablishing standard "winter" time in the country.

“The seasonal time shift shall not take place,” says the document posted on the official legal information portal on Tuesday, July 22.

The law will take effect at 2 a.m. on Oct. 26, 2014.

It sets eleven time zones across Russia.

The then Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, said on Feb. 8,
2011, the shift to standard “winter” time would be abolished in fall
2011. Russia shifted to daylight saving time in spring 2011 and did not
fall back to standard time in fall. Then Russia became the only country
on earth which had daylight saving time all the year round.

On July 1 the State Duma passed in the second and third, final,
readings the bill which restored standard “winter” time in Russia. The
Federation Council approved the bill on July 9.

The law said the country would fall one hour back on Oct. 26, 2014.

The government said earlier the restoration of standard “winter” time
was not expedient. The government twice posted negative opinions about
applicable draft laws and said it would not discuss the issue again.

Under the bill, Moscow time corresponds to the UTC (SU) +3 time zone
on the national time scale. There is no seasonal change of clocks.

Russia will have eleven time zones. The time zones will be designated
and numbered in accordance with the Coordinate Universal Time (UTC)
standard.

Moscow time is used as a standard time for local times in Russian time zones.

Time zone 1 (Moscow time minus one) will cover the Kaliningrad
region. Time zone two will include, in particular, Moscow, St.
Petersburg, Republic of Karelia, Republic of Komi, Republic of Crimea,
Republic of Tatarstan, Chechen Republic and Sevastopol.

Time zone 3 (Moscow time plus one) will include the Republic of
Udmurtia and Samara region. Currently, the Samara region lives under
Moscow time.

Under the bill, Time zone four (Moscow time plus two) includes the
Republic of Bashkortostan, Perm Territory, Kurgan region, Orenburg
region, Sverdlovsk region, Tyumen region, Chelyabinsk region, and the
Khanty-Mansi (Yugra) and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Districts.

Time zone 5 (Moscow time plus three): Republic of Altai, Altai
Territory, Novosibirsk region, Omsk region and Tomsk region; Time zone
six (Moscow time plus four): Republic of Tyva, Republic of Khakassia,
Krasnoyarsk Territory, Kemerovo region; Time zone seven (Moscow time
plus five): Republic of Buryatia, Transbaikal Territory, Irkutsk region;
Time zone eight (Moscow time plus six) will include, among others,
several regions in Sakha Republic (Yakutia), the republican city of
Yakutsk and the Amur region.

Time zone nine (Moscow time plus seven): several regions in the Sakha
Republic (Yakutia), the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and the Jewish
Autonomous region; the tenth time zone (Moscow time plus eight): several
regions of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Sakhalin region (North
Kurils); and the eleventh time zone (Moscow time plus nine): Kamchatka
Territory, Chukchi Autonomous District.