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Russians turn back clocks to permanent winter time

Former President Dmitry Medvedev put forth measures in 2011 to keep summer time year round, which proved unpopular.

By Fred Lambert
A view of the clock on the Spasskaya Tower in Kremlin in Moscow in 2006. (UPI Photo/Anatoli Zhdanov)
A view of the clock on the Spasskaya Tower in Kremlin in Moscow in 2006. (UPI Photo/Anatoli Zhdanov) | License Photo

MOSCOW, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Russia turns its clocks back one hour on Sunday, adopting winter time for good after an unpopular choice three years ago by the country's former president to permanently use summer time.

The new change increases Russia's time zones from nine to 11. Representatives of the Russian Academy of Sciences said at a news conference the move will reduce down to three hours the difference between Moscow time and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

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The purpose of the change is to match local Russian time more accurately with the rising sun.

President Vladimir Putin announced the change to permanent winter time earlier this year.

In 2011, then-President Dmitry Medvedev made daylight saving time permanent in Russia, which eventually proved unpopular after a rise in the rate of morning auto accidents in the country's north, where days remain dark for longer periods in the winter.

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