Editing Moscow Time

{{Short description|Time zone in western Russia (UTC+3)}}
{{For|the newspaper|The Moscow Times}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Time zones of Russia}}
{{Time zones of Europe|image = Time zones of Europe.png}}

'''Moscow Time''' ('''MSK'''; {{langx|ru|моско́вское вре́мя|moskovskoye vremya}}) is the [[time zone]] for the city of [[Moscow]], [[Russia]], and most of western Russia, including [[Saint Petersburg]]. It is the second-westernmost of the eleven [[time in Russia|time zones of Russia]], after the non-continguous [[Kaliningrad enclave]]. It has been set to [[UTC+03:00]] without [[Daylight saving time|DST]] since 26 October 2014;<ref name=mskAbolished>{{cite news
|url=http://en.ria.ru/russia/20141026/194606015/Russia-Turns-Clocks-Back-to-Winter-Time.html
|date=26 October 2014
|title=Russia Turns Clocks Back to 'Winter' Time, during British summer time however Moscow time is only 2 hours ahead of the UK and 3 in the winter. 
|newspaper=RIA Novosti
|access-date=27 October 2014
}}</ref> before that date it had been set to UTC+04:00 [[Daylight_saving_time#Permanent_daylight_saving_time|year-round]] on 27 March 2011.<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.timeanddate.com/news/time/russia-winter-time.html
|date=8 February 2011
|title=Russia Abolishes Winter Time
|newspaper=Timeanddate.com
|access-date=26 March 2011
}}</ref>

Moscow Time is used to schedule [[Rail transport in Russia|trains]], ships, etc. throughout Russia, but [[air transport in Russia]] is scheduled using local time. [[Time in Russia]] is often announced throughout the country's other timezones on [[radio station]]s as Moscow Time, which is also registered in [[telegram]]s, etc. Descriptions of time zones in Russia are often based on Moscow Time rather than [[UTC]]; for example, [[Yakutsk]] ([[UTC+09:00]]) is said to be MSK+6 in Russia.

== History ==
Until the [[October Revolution]], the official time in Moscow corresponded to GMT+02:30:17 (according to the longitude of the Astronomical Observatory of [[Moscow State University]]). In 1919 the [[Vladimir Lenin's Cabinet|Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR]] introduced the system of time zones in the country, and Moscow was assigned to the second administrative time zone, equal to GMT+02:00. Other zones east of the 37.5° meridian to [[Arkhangelsk]], [[Vologda]], [[Yaroslavl]], [[Kostroma]], [[Ivanovo]], [[Vladimir, Russia|Vladimir]], [[Ryazan]], [[Tula, Russia|Tula]], [[Lipetsk]], [[Voronezh]] and [[Rostov-on-Don]] were also included in the second belt.

In accordance with the 16 June 1930 Decree of the [[Sovnarkom|Council of People's Commissars]], the [[Decree 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 of [[Universal Time]].{{citation needed|date=March 2011}}

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 become ''Moscow Summer Time (MSD)'', making it UTC+04:00.

In 2011, the Russian government proclaimed that [[daylight saving time]] would be observed all year round, thus effectively displacing [[standard time]] — claiming health concerns attributed to the annual shift to-and-fro DST.<ref name=mskAbolished /> On 27 March 2011, Muscovites set their clocks forward for a final time, effectively observing MSD, or UTC+04:00, permanently.

On 29 March 2014, after the [[annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation]], the [[Republic of Crimea (Russia)|Republic of Crimea]] and the city of [[Sevastopol]] — two [[federal subjects of Russia|federal subjects established by Russia]] on the [[Crimean Peninsula]] — switched their time to MSK on 30 March 2014 (from UTC+02:00 with DST to UTC+04:00 with permanent DST).

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.

== Usage ==
Most of the European part of Russia (west of the [[Ural Mountains]]) uses Moscow Time. [[Kaliningrad Oblast]] uses [[Kaliningrad Time]] (UTC+02:00). [[Samara Oblast]] and [[Udmurtia]] use [[Samara time]] (UTC+04:00) and [[Perm Krai]], [[Bashkortostan]] and [[Orenburg Oblast]] use [[Yekaterinburg time]] (UTC+05:00). Since 2014, Moscow Time has been observed in [[Crimea]] after it was [[Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation|annexed]] and in [[Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine]], including after their [[Russian annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts|declared annexation]] in 2022.<ref>{{cite web|url =http://tass.ru/en/world/756540|title=DPR and LPR switch over to Moscow time|publisher=Tass - Russian News Agency|date=26 October 2014|access-date=11 August 2015}}</ref>

=== Past usage ===
Moscow Time was also formerly used in European parts of the then-USSR:

* [[Estonia]], in 1940–1941 and 1944-1989
* [[Latvia]], in 1940–1941 and 1944-1989
* [[Lithuania]], in 1940–1941 and 1944-1989
* [[Kaliningrad Oblast]] (Russia), in 1946–1989
* [[Moldova]], in 1944-1990
* [[Ukraine]], in 1930–1941 and 1943-1990 
* [[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):<ref>[https://www.iana.org/time-zones Time Zone Database] (IANA)</ref>
{|
|-
| From 1 January 1880 || [[UTC+02:30|UTC+02:30:17]]
|-
| From 3 July 1916 || [[UTC+02:30|UTC+02:31:19]]
|-
| From 1 July 1917 || [[UTC+02:30|UTC+02:31:19]] with DST
|-
| From 1 July 1919 || [[UTC+03:00]] with DST
|-
| From 16 August 1919 || [[UTC+03:00]]
|-
| From 14 February 1921 || [[UTC+03:00]] with DST
|-
| From 1 October 1921 || [[UTC+03:00]]
|-
| From 1 October 1922 || [[UTC+02:00]] ([[Eastern European Time|EET]])
|-
| From 21 June 1930 || [[UTC+03:00]]
|-
| From 1 April 1981 || [[UTC+03:00]] with DST
|-
| From 31 March 1991 || [[UTC+02:00]] ([[Eastern European Time|EET]]) with DST
|-
| From 19 January 1992 || [[UTC+03:00]] with DST
|-
| From 27 March 2011 || [[UTC+04:00]]
|-
| From 26 October 2014 || [[UTC+03:00]]
|}

== Anomalies ==
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 of [[Belarus]] with 23°10' E as the westernmost point where UTC+3 has been used since 2011, thus aligning with MSK since 2014 (see also [[Minsk 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'''
* Russia, including most of [[Franz Josef Land]], [[Yuzhny Island]], most of [[Severny Island]] with an exception to the very east, and some parts of the Russian mainland ([[Komi Republic]], [[Nenets Autonomous Okrug]], east of [[Kirov Oblast]] and [[Tatarstan]])

'''Areas east of 67°30' E ("physical" [[UTC+05:00]]) that use UTC+03:00'''
* The very east of [[Severny Island]] in Russia with 69°2' E as the easternmost point where MSK is used

=== Areas located within UTC+03:00 longitudes (37°30' E – 52°30' E) using other time zones ===

'''Areas that use UTC+02:00'''
* Eastern parts of Ukraine

'''Areas that use UTC+04:00'''
* [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] with an exception of [[Abkhazia]] and [[South Ossetia]]
* [[Armenia]]
* [[Azerbaijan]]
* The [[Oblasts of Russia|Russian Oblasts]] of [[Astrakhan Oblast|Astrakhan]], [[Samara Oblast|Samara]], [[Saratov Oblast|Saratov]] and [[Ulyanovsk Oblast|Ulyanovsk]] with an exception to the very east
* Western half of the [[Republics of Russia|Russian Republic]] of [[Udmurtia]]

'''Areas that use UTC+05:00'''
* The western tip of [[Perm Krai]] in Russia, and the western parts of the [[Orenburg Oblast]] in Russia

== See also ==
* [[East Africa Time]], also in [[UTC+03:00]]
* [[Time in Russia]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20171108130528/http://timenow.msk.ru/en/ Current time in Moscow]{{dead link|date=May 2025}}

[[Category:Time zones]]
[[Category:Time in Russia]]
[[Category:Moscow]]