Time in Russia in the context of Gulf Standard Time

Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country in Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the largest country in the world, spanning eleven time zones and sharing land borders with fourteen countries. With a population of over 140 million, Russia is the most populous country in Europe and the ninth-most populous country in the world. It is a highly urbanised country, with sixteen of its urban areas having more than 1 million inhabitants. Moscow, the most populous metropolitan area in Europe, is the capital and largest city of Russia; and Saint Petersburg is its second-largest city and cultural centre.

Human settlement on the territory of modern Russia dates back to the Lower Paleolithic. The East Slavs emerged as a recognised group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. The first East Slavic state, Kievan Rus', arose in the 9th century, and in 988, it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire. Kievan Rus' ultimately disintegrated; the Grand Duchy of Moscow led the unification of Russian lands, leading to the proclamation of the Tsardom of Russia in 1547. By the early 18th century, Russia had vastly expanded through conquest, annexation, and the efforts of Russian explorers, developing into the Russian Empire, which remains the third-largest empire in history. However, with the Russian Revolution in 1917, Russia's monarchic rule was abolished and eventually replaced by the Russian SFSR—the world's first constitutionally socialist state. Following the Russian Civil War, the Russian SFSR established the Soviet Union with three other Soviet republics, within which it was the largest and principal constituent. The Soviet Union underwent rapid industrialisation in the 1930s, amidst the deaths of millions under Joseph Stalin's rule, and later played a decisive role for the Allies in World War II by leading large-scale efforts on the Eastern Front—rising as a global superpower. With the onset of the Cold War, it competed with the United States for ideological dominance and international influence. The Soviet era of the 20th century saw some of the most significant Russian technological achievements, including the first human-made satellite and the first human expedition into outer space.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by area, extending across eleven time zones and sharing borders with twelve countries, and the third-most populous country. An overall successor to the Russian Empire, it was nominally organized as a federal union of national republics, the largest and most populous of which was the Russian SFSR. In practice, its government and economy were highly centralized. As a one-party state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), it was the flagship communist state. Its capital and largest city was Moscow.

The Soviet Union's roots lay in the October Revolution of 1917. The new government, led by Vladimir Lenin, established the Russian SFSR, the world's first constitutionally communist state. The revolution was not accepted by all within the Russian Republic, resulting in the Russian Civil War. The Russian SFSR and its subordinate republics were merged into the Soviet Union in 1922. Following Lenin's death in 1924, Joseph Stalin came to power, inaugurating rapid industrialization and forced collectivization that led to significant economic growth but contributed to a famine between 1930 and 1933 that killed millions. The Soviet forced labour camp system of the Gulag was expanded. During the late 1930s, Stalin's government conducted the Great Purge to remove opponents, resulting in large scale deportations, arrests, and show trials accompanied by public fear. Having failed to build an anti-Nazi coalition in Europe, the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany in 1939. Despite this, in 1941 Germany invaded the Soviet Union in the largest land invasion in history, opening the Eastern Front of World War II. The Soviets played a decisive role in defeating the Axis powers while liberating much of Central and Eastern Europe. However they would suffer an estimated 27 million casualties, which accounted for most losses among the victorious Allies. In the aftermath of the war, the Soviet Union consolidated the territory occupied by the Red Army, forming satellite states, and undertook rapid economic development which cemented its status as a superpower.

UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00.

It is the most populous time zone in the world, as well as a possible candidate for ASEAN Common Time, mainly due to China's large population, with an estimated population of 1.4 billion people.

Kaliningrad Time (KALT; Russian: калининградское время, romanized: kaliningradskoye vremya) is the time zone two hours ahead of UTC (UTC+02:00) and one hour behind Moscow Time (MSK−1). It is used in Kaliningrad Oblast.

Until 2011, Kaliningrad Time was identical to Eastern European Time (UTC+02:00; UTC+03:00 with daylight saving time). On 27 March 2011, Russia moved to permanent DST, switching Kaliningrad time permanently to UTC+03:00. On 26 October 2014, this law was reversed but daylight saving time was not reintroduced, so Kaliningrad is now permanently set to UTC+02:00.

Moscow Time (MSK; Russian: моско́вское вре́мя, romanized: moskovskoye vremya) is the time zone for the city of Moscow, Russia, and most of western Russia, including Saint Petersburg. It is the second-westernmost of the eleven time zones of Russia, after the non-continguous Kaliningrad enclave. It has been set to UTC+03:00 without DST since 26 October 2014; before that date it had been set to UTC+04:00 year-round on 27 March 2011.

Moscow Time is used to schedule trains (until 1 August 2018), ships, etc. throughout Russia, but air transport in Russia is scheduled using local time. Since 1 August 2018, Russian railways switched to using local time. Time in Russia is often announced throughout the country's other timezones on radio stations as Moscow Time, which is also registered in telegrams, etc. Descriptions of time zones in Russia are often based on Moscow Time rather than UTC; for example, Yakutsk (UTC+09:00) is said to be MSK+6 in Russia.

Samara Time (SAMT) is the time zone four hours ahead of UTC (UTC+4) and 1 hour ahead of Moscow Time (MSK+1). Samara Time is used in Astrakhan Oblast, Samara Oblast, Saratov Oblast, Udmurtia, and Ulyanovsk Oblast.

Yekaterinburg Time (YEKT) is the time zone five hours ahead of UTC (UTC+05:00) and 2 hours ahead of Moscow Time (MSK+2).

In 2011, Russia moved to year-round daylight saving time. Instead of switching between UTC+05:00 in winter and UTC+06:00 in summer, Yekaterinburg time was set to UTC+06:00 until 2014, when it was reset back to UTC+05:00 year-round.

Omsk Time (OMST) is a time zone in Russia that is six hours ahead of UTC (UTC+06:00), and 3 hours ahead of Moscow Time (MSK). It is used in Omsk Oblast.

Krasnoyarsk Time (KRAT) is the time zone seven hours ahead of UTC (UTC+07:00) and 4 hours ahead of Moscow Time (MSK+4). KRAT is the official time zone for central and east Siberian regions of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Kemerovo Oblast, Khakassia and Tuva.

Novosibirsk Oblast used this time zone until 1993, when it was known as Novosibirsk Time (NOVT/NOVST). The Russian government renamed the time zone shortly after Novosibirsk opted for another time zone instead.

Irkutsk Time (IRKT) is the time zone eight hours ahead of UTC (UTC+08:00) and 5 hours ahead of Moscow Time (MSK+5).

The time zone covers Buryatia and Irkutsk Oblast.

Yakutsk Time (YAKT) is a time zone in Russia which is nine hours ahead of GMT, and six hours ahead of Moscow Time (MSK). The time zone is also known as Asia/Yakutsk in the tz datbase.

The time zone covers Sakha Republic (western part), Amur Oblast and Zabaykalsky Krai.

Vladivostok Time (VLAT) (Russian: владивостокское время, vladivostokskoye vremya), is a time zone in Russia, named after the city of Vladivostok. It is ten hours ahead of UTC (UTC+10:00) and seven hours ahead of Moscow Time (MSK+7).

On 27 March 2011, Russia moved to year-round daylight saving time. Instead of switching between UTC+10:00 in winter and UTC+11:00 in summer, Vladivostok Time became fixed at UTC+11:00 until 2014, when it was reset back to UTC+10:00 year-round.

Magadan Time (MAGT) (Russian: магада́нское вре́мя, magadanskoye vremya) is a time zone in Russia, named after Magadan, the administrative center of Magadan Oblast. It is 11 hours ahead of UTC (UTC+11) and 8 hours ahead of Moscow Time (MSK+8).

Between 26 October 2014 and 24 April 2016, Magadan Oblast was in UTC+10 (MSK+7), that is Vladivostok Time. During this time, the UTC+11:00 (MSK+8) time zone was named Srednekolymsk Time, and was used by only 27,000 residents in the eastern districts of the Sakha Republic and northern Kuril Islands.

Kamchatka Time (Russian: камчатское время, romanized: kamchatskoye vremya), also known as Petropavlovsk Time (PETT) or Anadyr Time (ANAT), is a time zone in Russia, named after the Kamchatka Peninsula. It is 12 hours ahead of UTC (UTC+12:00) and 9 hours ahead of Moscow Time (MSK+9). This time zone is used in the two easternmost regions of Russia after October 2014 and was also used before the time zone reform of 2010.

Kamchatka Summer Time (PETST) corresponded to UTC+13:00, but still 9 hours ahead of Moscow (MSD+9). This no longer exists as explained below.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until its dissolution in 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by area, extending across eleven time zones and sharing borders with twelve countries, and the third-most populous country. An overall successor to the Russian Empire, it was nominally organized as a federal union of national republics, the largest and most populous of which was the Russian SFSR. In practice, its government and economy were highly centralized. As a one-party state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), it was the flagship communist state. Its capital and largest city was Moscow.

The Soviet Union's roots lay in the October Revolution of 1917. The new government, led by Vladimir Lenin, established the Russian SFSR, the world's first constitutionally communist state. The revolution was not accepted by all within the Russian Republic, resulting in the Russian Civil War. The Russian SFSR and its subordinate republics were merged into the Soviet Union in 1922. Following Lenin's death in 1924, Joseph Stalin came to power, inaugurating rapid industrialization and forced collectivization that led to significant economic growth but contributed to a famine between 1930 and 1933 that killed millions. The Soviet forced labour camp system of the Gulag was expanded. During the late 1930s, Stalin's government conducted the Great Purge to remove opponents, resulting in large scale deportations, arrests, and show trials accompanied by public fear. Having failed to build an anti-Nazi coalition in Europe, the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany in 1939. Despite this, in 1941 Germany invaded the Soviet Union in the largest land invasion in history, opening the Eastern Front of World War II. The Soviets played a decisive role in defeating the Axis powers while liberating much of Central and Eastern Europe. However they would suffer an estimated 27 million casualties, which accounted for most losses among the victorious Allies. In the aftermath of the war, the Soviet Union consolidated the territory occupied by the Red Army, forming satellite states, and undertook rapid economic development which cemented its status as a superpower.

Uelen is a rural locality (a selo) in Chukotsky District, just south of the Arctic Circle in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in the Russian Far East. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 720. Located near Cape Dezhnev where the Bering Sea meets the Chukchi Sea, it is the easternmost settlement in Russia and the whole of Asia. It is located in the Western Hemisphere, but the International Date Line curves around it, so it remains in a Russian time zone (UTC+12:00). Uelen is also the closest Asian settlement to North America. It is on the northeast corner of the Uelen Lagoon, a roughly 15 by 3 kilometres (9 by 2 miles) east-west lagoon separated from the ocean by a sandspit. Municipally, Uelen is subordinated to Chukotsky Municipal District and is incorporated as Uelen Rural Settlement.