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Time in Russia — regions, cities and time zones

Russia spans eleven time zones, from UTC+2 in Kaliningrad to UTC+12 in Kamchatka and Chukotka. Daylight saving was abandoned in 2014; every zone now holds a fixed offset year-round. Moscow, the capital, runs on UTC+3.

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Capital Moscow · Europe · ISO RU / RUS

Moscow, Russia

Sunday, 6 September 2026

UTC+3 · Europe/Moscow

Time and sun data for Moscow, Russia

The sun in Moscow

Sunrise 5:45 AM Solar noon 12:29 PM Sunset 7:14 PM Daylight 13 h 30 min Night 10 h 30 min Civil twilight 5:06 AM – 7:53 PM

States and regions (86)

Current time in Moscow

Moscow Time, UTC+3, is far more than the capital's local hour. It is the operational backbone of the country: the rail network has historically scheduled by it, and a great deal of national administration is coordinated against it regardless of where in the country the work happens.

That produces a familiar experience for travellers. A passenger boarding in one region and arriving in another may find that the timetable and the station clock are telling two different stories, and both are correct in their own frame.

Eleven zones, west to east

No other country covers as many hours of the day at once. Some anchor points across the span: Kaliningrad, the Baltic exclave, at UTC+2 — the westernmost and the only zone behind Moscow. Moscow and St Petersburg at UTC+3.

Yekaterinburg in the Urals at UTC+5. Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk in Siberia at UTC+7. Irkutsk and Lake Baikal at UTC+8. Vladivostok on the Pacific at UTC+10. Kamchatka and Chukotka in the far east at UTC+12.

When Kamchatka is finishing Tuesday evening, Kaliningrad is still working through Tuesday morning. Same country, same day, opposite ends of it.

Why the clocks stopped changing

Russia's recent clock history is unusually eventful. The country moved to permanent summer time in 2011, abandoning the seasonal switch by simply staying forward. That arrangement drew persistent complaints about dark winter mornings, and in 2014 the clocks were moved back an hour to permanent standard time instead — where they have stayed.

The result is a country with no daylight saving in any zone. Individual regions have since petitioned to shift themselves by an hour, which changes that region's offset but never reintroduces a seasonal change.

Working across the span

Coordinating across Russia is an exercise in accepting that some pairs of cities barely share a working day. Practical notes: Moscow and Vladivostok are seven hours apart. Late afternoon in Moscow is the middle of the night in Vladivostok.

Moscow and Yekaterinburg are two hours apart — close enough that a shared workday is easy. Because Russia does not observe daylight saving, its gap to Europe narrows by an hour each European summer. Moscow is one hour ahead of Central European countries in their summer, and two hours ahead in their winter.

Questions and answers
How many time zones are there in Russia?
Eleven, ranging from UTC+2 in Kaliningrad to UTC+12 in Kamchatka and Chukotka.
Does Russia use daylight saving time?
No. Seasonal clock changes were discontinued in 2014, and every Russian time zone now keeps a fixed offset all year.
What is the difference between Moscow and Vladivostok?
Seven hours. Moscow is on UTC+3 and Vladivostok on UTC+10, and neither changes seasonally, so the gap is constant.

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