Russia nowhas less time on its hands
Source: Agencies |
March 29, 2010, Monday
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Print Edition
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RUSSIA'S president thought the country had too much time on its hands, so on Sunday he eliminated two of its 11 time zones.
The changes mean that Chukotka - Russia's eastern extreme, just across the Bering Strait from Alaska - is now nine hours ahead of Russia's westernmost area, the Kaliningrad exclave sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland. Formerly, there was 10 hours' difference.
As well as eliminating the time zone that previously covered the Chukotka and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky regions in the Pacific Far East, President Dmitry Medvedev ordered that Samara and Udmurtia, two regions in central Russia, should be on the same time as Moscow.
The changes went into effect before dawn yesterday when most of Russia switched to daylight savings time. People in the eliminated time zones didn't move their clocks an hour ahead.
Medvedev initiated the change in his state of the nation address last November, prompting some criticism that he was ignoring the country's major problems.
But Medvedev said the change would help some far-flung regions have more efficient communications with the central authorities, ease travel and improve the country's international position. But some people in the affected regions believe Medvedev should have been doing something else with his time.
An online petition opposing the Samara region's change gathered nearly 13,000 signatures and said sunset would be painfully early in the winter. "In the winter, darkness will come almost at lunchtime."
The changes mean that Chukotka - Russia's eastern extreme, just across the Bering Strait from Alaska - is now nine hours ahead of Russia's westernmost area, the Kaliningrad exclave sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland. Formerly, there was 10 hours' difference.
As well as eliminating the time zone that previously covered the Chukotka and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky regions in the Pacific Far East, President Dmitry Medvedev ordered that Samara and Udmurtia, two regions in central Russia, should be on the same time as Moscow.
The changes went into effect before dawn yesterday when most of Russia switched to daylight savings time. People in the eliminated time zones didn't move their clocks an hour ahead.
Medvedev initiated the change in his state of the nation address last November, prompting some criticism that he was ignoring the country's major problems.
But Medvedev said the change would help some far-flung regions have more efficient communications with the central authorities, ease travel and improve the country's international position. But some people in the affected regions believe Medvedev should have been doing something else with his time.
An online petition opposing the Samara region's change gathered nearly 13,000 signatures and said sunset would be painfully early in the winter. "In the winter, darkness will come almost at lunchtime."
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