[tz] [PROPOSED PATCH 2/4] Phase out invented abbrs for Antarctica

[Alexander Belopolsky]

On Aug 23, 2016, at 9:25 PM, Paul Eggert <eggert at cs.ucla.edu> wrote:
> 
> These indicate that our old abbreviations are dubious too. The first decree talks about "Петроградского гражданского времени" (Petrograd civil time),

I don't think abbreviations for old zones in non English speaking countries can be justified by historical usage.  Before the switch to the GMT based system, the timekeeping in Russia was based on Pulkov time - the time measured at the Pulkov observatory near St. Petersburg.  That observatory has an easy to remember location: it is almost exactly at 30 degrees east longitude and 60 degrees north latitude.  This means UTC+2 LMT and 1/2 hour behind Moscow LMT.  I don't think Moscow solar time was ever used for precise time keeping.  Pulkov time was important for navigation- Russian navy used Pulkov meridian as 0 longitude before Greenwich became the international standard.