FYI - Two draft bills are posted on the Russian government's web site: http://government.ru/activities/20702/ http://government.ru/activities/20703/ If approved, the effect would be to move the Astrakhan region from UTC+3 to UTC+4, and to move the Trans-Baikal region from UTC+8 to UTC+9. Neither bill mentions an effective date. It's not clear whether the Trans-Baikal region refers to the entire area of Zabaykalsky Krai or some subset. Zabaykalsk Krai is currently managed by the Asia/Chita time zone, which I assume would remain intact and just get a new row in its zone entry. Also, assuming by Astrakhan region they mean the Astrakhan Oblast, then I think this change would require a new time zone. I suggest Europe/Astrakan for the city of the same name in this region. This is split from the Europe/Volograd time zone. -Matt