On Mon, 9 Mar 2026 at 04:28, Alois Treindl via tz <[email protected]> wrote:
> Moldova is effectively split into a west oriented part, capital Chinisau, > and a separatist eastern part called Transnistria. > It may be that transition to EU-style DST does not apply to Transnistria. > > is there any information about this? > Not really, at least not anything definitive as it relates to differences in timekeeping that have been brought to our attention. On Mon, 9 Mar 2026 at 05:49, Astrodienst Webmaster via tz <[email protected]> wrote: > I can see now that Europe/Tiraspol is in file backzone. > But should it not be in the official file europe? > No, it and the others were removed to that file in 2014 for the reasons mentioned at the top of the file. In particular, the data for Europe/Tiraspol is not at all well-sourced and so we cannot be confident in its correctness. > As far as I understand, no other zone table represents exactly the same > post-1970 history as this backzone entry. > The post-1970 data for Europe/Tiraspol matches Europe/Moscow up to the point when it was removed in 2001. (backzone did not exist until 2014, so there was nowhere good to put it until then.) Regardless, theory.html touches on the practical limits of tracking fluid separatist regions too closely. Our general guidance is for such regions is to use the primary zone entry of the region with which they are choosing to align. > At least it is not mentioned in documentation. > The reasons Europe/Tiraspol is not in the main files is well-documented in the europe file: # From Paul Eggert (2006-03-22): # A previous version of this database followed Shanks & Pottenger, who write # that Tiraspol switched to Moscow time on 1992-01-19 at 02:00. # However, this is most likely an error, as Moldova declared independence # on 1991-08-27 (the 1992-01-19 date is that of a Russian decree). # In early 1992 there was large-scale interethnic violence in the area # and it's possible that some Russophones continued to observe Moscow time. # But [two people] separately reported via # Jesper Nørgaard that as of 2001-01-24 Tiraspol was like Chisinau. # The Tiraspol entry has therefore been removed for now. We had a bit of a "false alarm" in 2011 due to conflicting reporting shortly after Russia began its "permanent DST" experiment, but ultimately there was no need to re-create the zone: # From Alexander Krivenyshev (2011-10-26) # NO need to divide Moldova into two timezones at this point. # As of today, Transnistria (Pridnestrovie)- Tiraspol reversed its own # decision to abolish DST this winter. # Following Moldova and neighboring Ukraine- Transnistria (Pridnestrovie)- # Tiraspol will go back to winter time on October 30, 2011. -- Tim Parenti
