Olympic body wants Russia to bring ‘winter’ time back

MOSCOW - Agence France-Presse

Russia will stage the 2014 Winter Games in the resort city Sochi on Feb. 7-23. AFP photo

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has asked the Russian government to bring back “winter” time to help the television broadcast of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, the Russian Olympic Committee said yesterday.

The annual switch to put the clocks back to the “winter” time was cancelled in Russia in 2011.

The time difference between Russia and most European countries now amounts to three hours, reaching four hours with Britain.

The deputies of the lower house of Russian parliament, the State Duma, have repeatedly called the government to bring the “winter” time back but all of their previous calls remained fruitless.

“This problem is completely in the competence of the state government,” Russian Olympic Committee spokeswoman Maria Kiseleva told Russian news agencies. “We can only wait for their decision.”