One of my favorite songs by beloved Russian rock band Kino is called City:

The chorus goes:

“I love this city,
But the winter here’s too long,
I love this city,
But the winter here’s too dark.”

Well, this year, when Vladimir Putin decided to abolish daylight savings time, winter across Russia just got a lot darker. One news report put it this way: “On Sunday, Russia switches to wintertime and stays there. Forever.”

For PRI’s The World (a co-production of the BBC)

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For a complete archive of my stories for The World, click here.