257 © The Author(s) 2019
M. Hartmann et al. (eds.), Mediated Time,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24950-2_13
CHAPTER 13
Synchronising the Nation: Media Networks
and Russian Time Reforms
of the 1920s and 2010s
Maria Rikitianskaia
INTRODUCTION
In 2018, Russia had 11 local times and held the world record for having
10 of them in contiguous landmass. Different parts of the country follow
different rhythms of lives, and there are always regions that are consider-
ably ahead or behind in time. For instance, waiting to welcome New Year
in its local time, the West-positioned Kaliningrad watches 11 hours of con-
tinuous live broadcasts of freworks and concerts from different cities
around the country. The recording of the President’s New Year address
gets broadcast in each region shortly before midnight, being repeated 11
times during the day in total. By the time Moscow gets to broadcast his
speech, the analysts are ready to offer comments, as they have already
heard it in Vladivostok’s transmission.
Territorial magnitude, diverse climatic landscapes and numerous time
zones have always been an important part of Russian historiography.
Scholars underline that this peculiarity of Russian geography and the
M. Rikitianskaia ()
Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland
e-mail: maria.rikitianskaia@usi.ch
maria.rikitianskaia@usi.ch