Moscow Time is used to scheduletrains (until 1 August 2018), ships, etc. throughout Russia, butair transport in Russia is scheduled using local time. Since 1 August 2018, Russian railways switched to using local time.[3]Time in Russia is often announced throughout the country's other timezones onradio stations as Moscow Time, which is also registered intelegrams, etc. Descriptions of time zones in Russia are often based on Moscow Time rather thanUTC; for example,Yakutsk (UTC+09:00) is said to be MSK+6 in Russia.
In accordance with the 16 June 1930 Decree of theCouncil of People's Commissars, theDecree Time was introduced by adding one hour to the time in each time zone of the USSR, so that Moscow Time became three hours ahead ofUniversal Time.[4]
Until 2011, during the winter, between the last Sunday of October and the last Sunday of March,Moscow Standard Time (MSK, МСК) was three hours ahead of UTC, or UTC+03:00. In the summer, Moscow Time shifted forward an additional hour ahead of Moscow Standard Time to becomeMoscow Summer Time (MSD), making it UTC+04:00.
In 2011, the Russian government proclaimed thatdaylight saving time would be observed all year round, thus effectively displacingstandard time — claiming health concerns attributed to the annual shift to-and-fro DST.[1] On 27 March 2011, Muscovites set their clocks forward for a final time, effectively observing MSD, or UTC+04:00, permanently.
On 1 July 2014, the State Duma passed a bill partially repealing the 2011 change, removing permanent DST and putting Moscow Time from 26 October 2014 on permanent UTC+03:00 and thus back to standard time.
Samara Oblast (Russia), in 1989–1991 and again from 2010–2011
Belarus, in 1930–1941, 1944-1991 and again from 2014
Crimea, in 1930–1941, 1944-1990, 1994-1997 and again from 2014
Moscow Summer Time (UTC+04:00) was first applied in 1981 and was used:
until 1989 in Estonia, Kaliningrad Oblast, Latvia and Lithuania
until 1990 in Moldova and Ukraine
until 1991 in Belarus
between 1989 and 1991 and in 2010 in Samara Oblast.
In 1922–1930 and 1991–1992, Moscow observed Eastern European Time (UTC+02:00). Daylight saving time (UTC+03:00) was observed in the summer of 1991, and the city and region reverted to UTC+03:00 by the summer of 1992.
The time in Moscow has been as follows (the following list of DST usage may not be accurate):[6]
Since political, in addition to purely geographical, criteria are used in drawing time zones, they do not precisely adhere to meridian lines. The "purely geographical" MSK (UTC+03:00) time zone would consist of the band between meridians 37°30' E and 52°30' E. However, there are European locales that despite lying in an area with a "physical" UTC+03:00 time, are in another time zone; likewise, there are European areas that have gone for UTC+03:00, even though their "physical" time zone is different. Following is a list of such anomalies:
Areas located outside UTC+03:00 longitudes using Moscow Time (UTC+03:00) time
Areas west of 37°30' E ("physical" UTC+02:00) that use UTC+03:00
The entirety ofBelarus with 23°10' E as the westernmost point where UTC+3 has been used since 2011, thus aligning with MSK since 2014 (see alsoMinsk Time)
Western Russia, including Saint Petersburg, half of Moscow and Crimea
Areas between 52°30' E and 67°30' E ("physical" UTC+04:00) that use UTC+03:00
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