Belarus, which currently bears the official name of the Republic of Belarus, is a relatively small state, with a total area of just over 200 thousand square kilometers. Therefore, the entire territory of the country is located in one time zone.
Time zone of Belarus
Currently, the entire territory of the Republic of Belarus is located in one time zone - UTC + 3. Belonging to this time zone means that the time in the country is three hours higher than Greenwich Mean Time: thus, when in London, through which the Greenwich meridian passes, it is 12 noon, in Belarus - 15 hours. In turn, the specified time zone means the time that is one hour less than the time in Moscow, which belongs to the UTC + 4 zone.
The transitions to summer and winter time in the Republic of Belarus are currently canceled, that is, throughout the year the country lives in the same time regime. In this case, the time zone UTC + 3 for the country is summer time.
Such a regime significantly distinguishes the state from neighboring countries - Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine, with which Belarus has direct borders. The fact is that all of the above countries move their clocks forward one hour in the summer, and with the onset of winter they reverse the clock. Thus, during half a year there is no time difference between Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine, and during the other half of the year it is 1 hour. At the same time, the time difference with Poland, depending on the season, is from 1 to 2 hours. The majority of other European countries also carry out the practice of the annual double clock transfer.
Time zone history
Earlier Belarus, like neighboring European countries, annually switched the clock hands from winter to summer time and back. The country lived in this regime for 20 years - from 1991 to 2011. However, after the Russian Federation abandoned this practice in 2011, the state authorities made a similar decision in the same year.
In March 2011, the Belarusians, as usual, moved the clock hands forward one hour, thus switching to the summer time regime. However, over the next several months, the state authorities decided to abandon the reverse transfer: as a result, the previously planned reverse transfer of clocks, which was to take place on October 27, was canceled in the country. This date is considered the date of establishment of the current time in Belarus.
Thus, earlier the winter time in the country coincided with the standard time, that is, the regime corresponding to its actual geographic location, and in the summer the clocks were set one hour ahead. However, with the cancellation of the clock transfer, Belarus began to constantly live in a temporary mode, when the time is one hour higher than the actual standard time.
