[tz] Why did you rename Russian zone name abbreviations

[Paul Eggert]

On 10/31/2016 12:17 PM, Alexander Belopolsky wrote:
> Some of the abbreviations that may have been originally invented by 
> you or Olson have since come into common practice. 

Yes, web pages derived from older versions of the tz database use them. 
But they do not appear to be common in general English usage. I just now 
checked Google News for English-language news articles mentioning both 
"VLAT" and "Vladivostok", and found zero occurrences, which suggests 
that the abbreviation has not caught on in practice in English. Instead, 
I found phrases like this:

"Japanese ship Pacific Venus carrying 500 passengers will moor at the 
port of Vladivostok at 07:00 (local time)..." 
<http://en.portnews.ru/news/228171/>

"Vladivostok is GMT +10" 
<http://www.wanderlust.co.uk/magazine/blogs/matthew-woodward/keeping-track-of-time-on-the-trans-siberian-express>