Minsk and Moscow are very much connected. The capital of the former Soviet republics and at the moment I host a huge number of guests every year - Belarusians and Russians. No wonder these peoples are called fraternal
Often a situation occurs when parents live in Minsk, and the children have left to build life in Moscow. Sometimes the opposite. Or friends eventually went to these cities, but they want to see each other often. And how many distant relatives with the citizenship of the Republic of Belarus can be counted in Russia?
Many families in Belarus have cousins and second cousins, sisters from Russian cities. And before buying a ticket from one capital to another, people ask themselves: is there a time difference in these cities (Minsk and Moscow)?
And where do you need to count?
There are currently 24 time zones in the world. The countdown begins with Greenwich. That is, through the Greenwich Meridian. London is perhaps the most famous city through which the named meridian passes.
Time Zones
In Belarus, the time zone is UTC + 3. The state covers an area of about 200,000 square kilometers. The entire territory of the country is in this time zone, and this is UTC + 3. That is, the time in the Republic of Belarus differs by three hours in a larger direction from London.
In Moscow, the same time zone is UTC + 3.
That is, Moscow is also in the same time zone as Belarus. From this it becomes clear that there is no time difference between Moscow and Minsk, and the traveler can not take it into account when planning a trip.
For summer time we can’t translate anymore
It is interesting that at the moment, both Belarus and Russia no longer switch the clock to summer and winter time. There are several conflicting sources on the Internet that claim that there is a time difference in the cities of Minsk and Moscow. Moreover, it is one hour - that is, when in Moscow, for example, 16:00, in Minsk 15:00. These sources do not intentionally lie, just at the moment their information is outdated. Indeed, before these cities were in different time zones. And the time difference between Minsk and Moscow was 1 hour.
For almost 20 years - from September 1991 to March 2011 - the Republic of Belarus lived in the UTC + 2 time zone. But at the same time, every year the whole country switched to daylight saving time, moving hands one hour ahead. Finally, in March 2011, the hands were transferred for the last time, and the state decided on its time zone - from now on it was UTC + 3, seasonal transfers no longer occur.
Moscow refused to transfer the watch a little later. In 2011, for example, Moscow time corresponded to UTC + 4 - it was decided to refuse to switch the clock to winter time. And the whole country lived constantly in the summertime. But in 2014, the law "On the calculation of time" was adopted, and time in Moscow finally began to correspond to UTC + 3, exactly the same time zone that operates in the territory of the state of Belarus.
So now, reading some literature that says that between Minsk and Moscow the time difference is 1 hour, you need to understand that no one is trying to deceive his reader. Just the information is relevant for 2014 (or earlier), but at the moment it is noticeably outdated.
How to get from Moscow to Minsk?
Travelers will not be amiss to find out that the distance between these two cities is 675 km in a straight line and 717 km - on the highway. You can get there by train, plane or car.
The time difference between Minsk and Moscow we found out. Now let's look at how much it takes to get from one capital to another by plane, by rail or by car? Time in the air, if you choose a flight, will be 1 hour 20 minutes.
If you choose the format of travel by train, then you will have to allocate 8-10 hours on the road. Those who decide to get from one capital to another by car along the M1 highway (by the way, recognized as the safest in Russia) should spend about 10 hours. At the moment, it is the automobile route that is most popular.