Russia Changes Time Zone in Astrakhan
By Anne Buckle. Published 17-Feb-2016
Russia will change the time zone of Astrakhan Oblast. Clocks there will be turned forward 1 hour from 02:00 (2 am) to 03:00 (3 am) on March 27, 2016.
Astrakhan Kremlin in southern Russia.
©iStockphoto.com/draghicich
The change will affect Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia, including the Oblast's administrative center Astrakhan.
New Time Zone Name
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a federal law changing the time zone in Astrakhan Oblast on February 15, 2016.
The change moves Astrakhan from Moscow Standard Time (MST) to MSK +1.
The UTC offset changes from UTC +3 to UTC +4, giving Astrakhan the same time as the Russian cities Samara and Izhevsk, as well as Azerbaijan.
Change in Zabaykalsky Krai
A federal law for time zone change in Zabaykalsky Krai in Siberia has also been signed. The change there is also scheduled on March 27, 2016.
Proposed Time Zone Changes
There are several more regions in Russia that have submitted draft bills proposing changes to their time zones. These proposals still need to go through the stages of the legislative process.
It is uncertain if and when the time zones will be changed:
- Sakhalin Oblast, UTC +10 to UTC +11
- Ulyanovsk Oblast, UTC +3 to UTC +4
- Altai Republic, UTC +6 to UTC +7
- Altai Krai, UTC +6 to UTC +7
- Magadan Oblast, UTC +10 to UTC +11
Russia has a history of time zone changes. Recently the country added two new time zones and stopped using Daylight Saving Time (DST).