Time in Russia

In Russia today, as in the past (before 2010), eleven zone times are used as official times: UTC+2 to UTC+12. There is no longer a temporary changeover to daylight saving time.

Russia extends from about 20° east in an easterly direction over the 180th degree of longitude to 170° west. This corresponds approximately to the eleven time zones extending between 22.5° East and 172.5° West, each 15° wide, whose reference longitudes are 30° East, 45° East, ..., 180° East. The associated zone times (UTC+2 to UTC+12), which differ from each other and from Greenwich Mean Time by whole multiples of hours, are also used in Russia. However, the eleven areas or area groups of their validity fit only insufficiently, often not at all, into the uniform time zone grid. Some of them do not extend from south to north, but from southwest to northeast. There are relatively small areas, each with a zone time at the southern edge of a larger area of another zone time. One zone time is used in three, another in two non-contiguous areas. In the USA, which also has a large west-east extension, the four time zones there (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) are more recognizable as time zones of roughly equal width, extending between south and north. There, the use of the term time zone is more meaningful than in Russia.

Between 2010 and 2014, the number of zone times was reduced to nine. UTC+4 and UTC+12 were omitted. In addition, daylight saving time was maintained continuously for around three and a half years from 2011. This had also changed the nine zone times to UTC+3 to UTC+12.

After persistent criticism from the population, Russia returned to standard time on 26 October 2014 and abolished the previous temporary switch to daylight saving time. In addition, the number of zone times was increased again to eleven. Since most areas in Russia with their own zone time are one hour ahead of the position of the sun anyway due to the decree time, for example, in the major cities (from west to east) of Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Omsk, Irkutsk, Vladivostok and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky you have similar conditions all year round as in major Central European cities during summer time (e.g. Cologne, Berlin, Zurich and Vienna).

In Russian rail transport, clocks were generally set to Moscow time at stations across the country until the end of July 2018, but since 1 August 2018 the respective local time has been used; this was already the case at airports.

Area allocation of zone times since 2020

On December 27, 2020, Volgograd oblast switched back to Moscow time (UTC+3).

The area allocation of all eleven zone times since then is again the following:

	Name	Abbreviation	Difference to UTC	allocated territories
	Kaliningrad period	USZ1	UTC+2	Kaliningrad Oblast
	Moscow Time	MSK	UTC+3	Largest part of European Russia (Central Russia and North Caucasus federal districts in their entirety, Northwest Russia and South Russia for the most part, and Volga in part); also the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Ukraine), annexed since 2014.
	Samara period	SAMT	UTC+4	Volga Federal District: Samara Oblast, Saratov Oblast, Udmurtia, Ulyanovsk Oblast; South Russian Federal District: Astrakhan Oblast
	Ekaterinburg Time	YEKT	UTC+5	Volga Federal District: Bashkortostan, Perm Krai, Orenburg Oblast; Ural Federal District (complete): Chelyabinsk Oblast, Kurgan Oblast, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Tyumen Oblast, Khanty-Mansi/Yugra Autonomous Okrug, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug
	Omsk time	OMST	UTC+6	Omsk oblast
	Krasnoyarsk time	KRAT	UTC+7	Altai Region, Altai Republic, Khakassia, Kemerovo Oblast, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Tuva, Tomsk Oblast, Novosibirsk Oblast
	Irkutsk time	IRKT	UTC+8	Buryatia, Irkutsk oblast
	Yakutsk time	YAKT	UTC+9	Amur oblast, Transbaikalia region, Sakha (western part)
	Vladivostok time	VLAT	UTC+10	Khabarovsk Krai, Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Primorye Krai, Sakha (central part)
	Srednekolymsk Standard Time	SRET	UTC+11	Magadan oblast, Sakha (eastern part), Sakhalin oblast
	Kamchatka Time	PETT	UTC+12	Kamchatka Region, Chukchi Autonomous Okrug

The only subject of the Russian Federation that has more than one zone time is the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). While most of the Sakha Republic has Yakutsk time (UTC+9), some Ulussians have UTC+10, and the easternmost part has UTC+11.

Overview of zone times in Russia and annexed Crimea (since 2020)

Area Assignment of Zone Times 2018-2020.

On October 28, 2018, Volgograd oblast switched from Moscow time to Samara time (UTC+4).

The area allocation of all eleven zone times was then as follows:

	Name	Abbreviation	Difference to UTC	allocated territories
	Kaliningrad period	USZ1	UTC+2	Kaliningrad Oblast
	Moscow Time	MSK	UTC+3	Largest part of European Russia (Central Russia and North Caucasus federal districts in their entirety, Northwest Russia and South Russia for the most part, and Volga in part); also the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Ukraine), annexed since 2014.
	Samara period	SAMT	UTC+4	Volga Federal District: Samara Oblast, Saratov Oblast, Udmurtia, Ulyanovsk Oblast; South Russian Federal District: Astrakhan Oblast, Volgograd Oblast
	Ekaterinburg Time	YEKT	UTC+5	Volga Federal District: Bashkortostan, Perm Krai, Orenburg Oblast; Ural Federal District (complete): Chelyabinsk Oblast, Kurgan Oblast, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Tyumen Oblast, Khanty-Mansi/Yugra Autonomous Okrug, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug
	Omsk time	OMST	UTC+6	Omsk oblast
	Krasnoyarsk time	KRAT	UTC+7	Altai Region, Altai Republic, Khakassia, Kemerovo Oblast, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Tuva, Tomsk Oblast, Novosibirsk Oblast
	Irkutsk time	IRKT	UTC+8	Buryatia, Irkutsk oblast
	Yakutsk time	YAKT	UTC+9	Amur oblast, Transbaikalia region, Sakha (western part)
	Vladivostok time	VLAT	UTC+10	Khabarovsk Krai, Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Primorye Krai, Sakha (central part)
	Srednekolymsk Standard Time	SRET	UTC+11	Magadan oblast, Sakha (eastern part), Sakhalin oblast
	Kamchatka Time	PETT	UTC+12	Kamchatka Region, Chukchi Autonomous Okrug

Overview of zone times in Russia and annexed Crimea (2018-2020).