The President said that the decision has already been made to move five of the country’s regions into new time zones, thereby reducing the number of time zones in Russia from 11 to 9. The meeting also discussed the expediency of daylight saving.
Mr Medvedev said that decisions of this kind can be made only after a careful study of all potential consequences, and noted the need to take into account all different factors, including medical, biological, economic and also international aspects.
Presidential Aide Arkady Dvorkovich said that the President has already given the instruction to carry out further analysis on the possibility of moving other regions into new time zones, in addition to five regions on which decisions have already been made, and analyze the expediency of daylight saving.
The idea of cutting the number of time zones in Russia was put forward by Dmitry Medvedev in his Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly in November 2009.