Russia cancels move to 'winter' time

Russia will from next autumn stop putting its clocks back in the winter, because it is causing people "stress and illness" according to Dmitry Medvedev.

The move means Moscow will be four hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time all year round.

"I have taken a decision to cancel the move to 'winter' time starting from autumn of the current year," Mr Medvedev, the Russian president, told the Kremlin.

His decision means that Russians will be able to enjoy extra daylight in the afternoons in the long winter months when the days are uncomfortably short in most of the main cities across the country.

Russia has nine time zones, stretching from Kaliningrad on the borders of the EU to Kamchatka in the Pacific.

Mr Medvedev last year changed Kamchatka's time zone to eight hours rather than nine hours ahead of Moscow, a move that sparked street protests in the Far East region.

(Will time as a whole disappear soon?)