[tz] Discrepancies in European part of Russia (and nearby)

Sun Mar 6 22:50:34 UTC 2016

Hi,

I compared Europe/Astrakhan, Europe/Ulyanovsk and
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BC%D1%8F_%D0%B2_%D0%A0%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%B8#.D0.98.D0.B7.D0.BC.D0.B5.D0.BD.D0.B5.D0.BD.D0.B8.D0.B5_.D0.BC.D0.B5.D1.81.D1.82.D0.BD.D0.BE.D0.B3.D0.BE_.D0.B2.D1.80.D0.B5.D0.BC.D0.B5.D0.BD.D0.B8_.D0.B2_.D0.B3.D0.BE.D1.80.D0.BE.D0.B4.D0.B0.D1.85_.D0.A0.D0.BE.D1.81.D1.81.D0.B8.D0.B8
, noticed some discrepancies and decided to look a bit closer.

1. Europe/Astrakhan, 1961 transition.
That one appears to be void and looks like an artifact of
Stalingrad -> Volgograd renaming. 

2. Europe/Samara, KUYT in 1991.
Europe/Samara currently has KUYT between 1991-09-29 and 1991-10-20.
But the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR
about renaming Kuybyshev to Samara is dated 1991-01-25:
http://pravo.gov.ru/proxy/ips/?docbody=&nd=102010448

I also wanted to check the date of the 1991-10-20 transition but did
not found any sources.

3. Europe/Chisinau, 1990 transitions.
While googling for Soviet era documents for Russian zones I found the
act of the government of the Republic of Moldova Nr. 132 from
04.05.1990
http://lex.justice.md/index.php?action=view&view=doc&lang=2&id=298782
It says that since 1990-05-06 on the territory of the Moldavian SSR
time would be calculated as the standard time of the second time belt
plus one hour of the "summer" time. To implement that clocks would be
adjusted one hour backwards at 1990-05-06 2:00. After that "summer"
time would be cancelled last Sunday of September at 3:00 and
reintroduced last Sunday of March at 2:00.

I believe that means UTC+0400 -> UTC+0300 transition at
1990-05-06 02:00 and that UTC+0300 -> UTC+0200 transition on
1990-09-30 was expected, while current Europe/Chisinau says
UTC+0300 -> UTC+0200 at 1990-05-06 00:00 and no transitions on
1990-03-25 and 1990-09-30.

4. Asia/Barnaul, 1995.
Letter of Bank of Russia from 25.05.1995
http://www.bestpravo.ru/rossijskoje/lj-akty/y3a.htm
suggests that Altai Republic transitioned to Moscow+3 on
1995-05-28. Currently Asia/Barnaul guesses it was on Moscow+3 since
1992-01-19.

http://regnum.ru/news/society/1957270.html
has some historical data for Altai Krai:
before 1957: west part on UTC+6, east on UTC+7
after 1957: UTC+7
since 1995: UTC+6
http://barnaul.rusplt.ru/index/pochemu_altajskij_kraj_okazalsja_v_neprivychnom_chasovom_pojase-17648.html
confirms that and provides more details including 1995-05-28 transition
date.

5. Tomsk, 2002.
http://pravo.gov.ru/proxy/ips/?docbody=&nd=102075743
transitions Tomsk to the time of the fifth time belt at 2002-05-01 03:00.
Tomsk currently is listed under Asia/Novosibirsk with transition to
Moscow+3 on 1993-05-23.

6. Europe/Astrakhan, Europe/Volgograd, 1991-1992 UTC+0400.
Wikipedia provides different guess for these dates but explicitly says
it's a guess. Are there any sources?

7. 1988 and 1989 changes.
Wikipedia and other sources refer to the
Act of the Council of Ministers of the USSR from 04.01.1988 No. 5
and the
Act of the Council of Ministers of the USSR from 14.03.1989 No. 227

I did not found full texts of these acts. For the 1989 one we have
title at http://base.garant.ru/70754136/ :
"About change in calculation of time on the territories of Lithuanian
SSR, Latvian SSR and Estonian SSR, Astrakhan, Kaliningrad, Kirov,
Kuybyshev, Ulyanovsk and Uralsk oblasts".
And
http://astrozet.net/files/Zones/DOC/RU/1980-925.txt
appears to contain quotes from both acts:
Since last Sunday of March 1988 rules of the second time belt are
installed in Volgograd and Saratov oblasts.
Since last Sunday of March 1989:
a) Lithuanian SSR, Latvian SSR, Estonian SSR, Kaliningrad oblast:
second time belt rules without extra hour (Moscow-1);
b) Astrakhan, Kirov, Kuybyshev, Ulyanovsk oblasts: second time belt
rules (Moscow time)
c) Uralsk oblast: third time belt rules (Moscow+1).

Currently Europe/Riga, Europe/Tallinn, Europe/Astrakhan,
Europe/Samara, Europe/Ulyanovsk and Asia/Oral agree with the acts;
Europe/Volgograd, Europe/Vilnius and Europe/Kaliningrad disagree.

The 1989 act is mentioned in the comments for Latvia.

8. Europe/Kaliningrad, 1989-1992.
Contemporary article reproduced at
http://www.rgo.ru/ru/kaliningradskoe-oblastnoe-otdelenie/ob-otdelenii/publikacii/kak-nam-zhilos-bez-letnego-vremeni
confirms that the 1989 change to Moscow-1 was implemented.
(The article, though, is misattributed to 1990 while saying that
summer->winter transition would be done on the 24 of September. But
1990-09-24 was Monday, while 1989-09-24 was Sunday as expected.)

2014 article at
http://www.kaliningradka.ru/site_pc/cherez/index.php?ELEMENT_ID=40091
says that Kaliningrad switched to Moscow-1 on 1989-03-26, avoided
at the last moment switch to Moscow-1 on 1991-03-31, switched to
Moscow on 1991-11-03, switched to Moscow-1 on 1992-01-19.

Europe/Kaliningrad currently disagrees with this between 1989-03-26 and
1991-11-03.

9. Europe/Vilnius, 1989.
Lithuania most probably did switch to Moscow-1 on 1989-03-26 but this
is not reflected in Europe/Vilnius.

10. Europe/Volgograd, 1988-1989.
Volgograd and Saratov supposedly switched to Moscow time on
1998-03-27. Kirov supposedly switched on 1989-03-26.
Europe/Volgograd currently says switch happend on 1989-03-26.

11. Regions-violators, 1981-1982.
Wikipedia refers to
http://maps.monetonos.ru/maps/raznoe/Old_Maps/Old_Maps/Articles/022/3_1981.html
and
http://besp.narod.ru/nauka_1981_3.htm
. 
The second link provides two articles scanned from the Nauka i Zhizn
magazine No. 3, 1981 and a scan of the short article attributed to the
Trud newspaper from Feburary 1982.
The first link provides the same Nauka i Zhizn articles converted to
the text form (but misses time belt changes map).

The second Nauka i Zhizn article says that in addition to introduction
of summer time on 1981-04-01 there are some time belt border changes
on 1981-10-01, mostly affecting Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Krasnoyarsk
Krai, Yakutia, Magadan Oblast and Chukotka according to the provided
map (colored one).
In addition to that "time violators" (regions which were not using
rules of the time belts in which they were located) would not be
moving off the DST on 1981-10-01 to restore the decree time
usage. (Komi ASSR was supposed to repeat that move in October 1982 to
account for the 2 hour difference.) Map depicting "time violators"
before 1981-10-01 is also provided.

The article from Trud says that 1981-10-01 changes caused problems and
some territories would be moved to pre-1981-10-01 time by not moving
to summer time on 1982-04-01. Namely: Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkar,
Kalmyk, Komi, Mari, Mordovian, North Ossetian, Tatar, Chechen-Ingush
and Chuvash ASSR, Krasnodar and Stavropol krais, Arkhangelsk,
Vladimir, Vologda, Voronezh, Gorky, Ivanovo, Kostroma, Lipetsk, Penza,
Rostov, Ryazan, Tambov, Tyumen and Yaroslavl oblasts, Nenets and Evenk
autonomous okrugs, Khatangsky district of Taymyr Autonomous Okrug. As
a result Evenk Autonomous Okrug and Khatangsky district of Taymyr
Autonomous Okrug would end up on Moscow+4, Tyumen Oblast on Moscow+2
and the rest on Moscow time.

http://astrozet.net/files/Zones/DOC/RU/1980-925.txt
attributes the 1982 changes to the Act of the Council of Ministers of
the USSR No. 126 from 18.02.1982.
1980-925.txt also adds Udmurtia to the list of affected territories
and lists Khatangsky district separately from Taymyr Autonomous
Okurg. Probably erroneously.

The affected territories are currently listed under Europe/Moscow,
Asia/Yekaterinburg and Asia/Krasnoyarsk.

12. Udmurtia
The fact that Udmurtia is depicted as a violator in the Nauka i Zhizn
article hints at Izhevsk being on different time from Kuybyshev before
1981-10-01. Udmurtia is not mentioned in the 1989 act.
http://astrozet.net/files/Zones/DOC/RU/1980-925.txt implies Udmurtia
was on Moscow time after 1982-04-01. Wikipedia implies Udmurtia being
on Moscow+1 until 1991.