Russia’s Father Time

Posted on Mar 28, 2010

Flickr / World Economic Forum

Russian President Dimitri Medvedev at the World Economic Forum in 2007.

In an effort to “breathe new life into business activity,” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has reduced the number of time zones in his country from 11 to nine. More time zone collapsing could lie ahead, with Medvedev suggesting Russia could get by with maybe five.

Medvedev also ordered a study of whether the practice of shifting summer to winter time and back every year could be scrapped. —JCL

Reuters:

Russia, the world’s largest country, reduced the number of its time zones to nine from 11 on Sunday after President Dmitry Medvedev said this could make the giant nation more manageable to run and boost its economy.

Medvedev said in a state of the nation address last November that the sprawling nation which lies in both Europe and Asia ought to reduce the number of its time zones and that China and the United States ran efficiently with much fewer time zones.

Last week, Medvedev ordered the government to cut the number of time zones, saying “this can help to breathe new life into business activity.”

As Russia adjusted its clocks forward one hour on Sunday morning to shift to summer time, its easternmost Chukotka and Kamchatka peninsulas, located near the U.S. state of Alaska, went from being nine hours ahead of Moscow to eight, joining the same time zone as the neighboring Magadan region.

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