By Duncan Mackay

Russian clock in Red SquareApril 25 - Russia will not reintroduce winter time for the 2014 Olympics and Paralympics, the country's President Vladimir Putin has revealed.


Earlier this year it had been claimed by the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had requested the change to make it more convenient for European broadcasters.

The IOC denied that they were behind the proposal, although privately admitted they would welcome it 

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had scrapped the switch to winter time in 2011.

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

But Putin has rejected the claims. 

"Yes, there is a problem with the time," he said during a live nationwide televised address in Moscow tonight.

"Fans are complaining and there might be more complaints because of the coming Sochi Olympics.

"But we going to solve this problem.

"The IOC will just follow what we decide here."

Vladimir Putin April 25 2013Vladimir Putin ruled out reintroducing winter time for Sochi 2014 during a televised address

The decision to abolish winter time was taken by Medvedev following research showing that the yearly time adjustment caused a number of health problems.

Russia is currently one of the few countries in Northern Europe that does not turn back its clock for winter.

Russia's Supreme Court had last month rejected an appeal to reintroduce winter time from the League for Defence of Patients, which claimed the Government's decision negatively affects citizens' lives, health and recreation habits.

The number of time zones in Russia was reduced to nine from 11 in March 2010 as part of Russia's time zone reform initiated in November 2009.

Daylight saving time (DST) was introduced in the Soviet Union to help reduce energy consumption by making the most of longer days in summer.

Up until 2011, Russia changed to and from DST on the same days as Europe, moving clocks forward one hour on the last Sunday of March and back one hour on the last Sunday of October.

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