How Russia's production calendar works

What the production calendar is

A production calendar lists, for a standard five-day week, every working day, day off and shortened day in a year, with monthly totals of working days and hours. Companies use it for payroll, time sheets and deadlines.

It is built from two sources: the Labour Code, which fixes the holidays and the rules for moving days, and an annual government decree that moves specific days off. The 2027 decree (No. 1187) was signed on 17 September 2026.

The 14 non-working holidays

Article 112 of the Labour Code lists the non-working public holidays:

• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 January: New Year holidays
• 7 January: Orthodox Christmas
• 23 February: Defender of the Fatherland Day
• 8 March: International Women's Day
• 1 May: Spring and Labour Day
• 9 May: Victory Day
• 12 June: Russia Day
• 4 November: Unity Day

How days off move

If a Saturday or Sunday falls on one of these holidays, the day off moves to the next working day after the holiday. This happens automatically. In 2027, for example, 1 May is a Saturday, so Monday 3 May is a day off.

The January holidays are the exception. Weekend days that fall on 1–8 January do not move to 9 January. Instead the government moves them to other days in the same year to build longer breaks. In 2027 the decree moves Saturday 2 January to Friday 5 November, and Sunday 3 January to Friday 31 December.

The government can also move ordinary weekend days. The 2027 decree moves the day off from Saturday 20 February to Monday 22 February. The law requires each decree to be published at least a month before the year it covers.

Working Saturdays and six-day weeks

When a Saturday's day off is moved elsewhere, that Saturday becomes a working day. Saturday 20 February 2027 is one: the week of 15–20 February has six working days, followed by a three-day break from 21 to 23 February.

Despite the extra Saturday, February 2027 still has fewer working days than most months:

Shortened pre-holiday days

Under Article 95, the working day immediately before a non-working holiday is one hour shorter, with no cut in pay. In 2027 the shortened days are 20 February, 30 April, 11 June and 3 November. Saturday 20 February is included because it is the last working day before the break that contains 23 February.

Shortened days are why annual working hours are not simply working days times eight. For a 40-hour week, 2027 has 247 working days and 247 × 8 − 4 = 1,972 working hours.

Month by month in 2027

Counted day by day from the 2027 decree, with working Saturdays included:

Example: a deadline across the New Year break

Russia's longest break is at New Year. In 2027 it runs from 31 December 2026 to 10 January 2027. A task due five working days after Friday 25 December 2026 lands well into January:

Working with Russia from abroad

Moscow uses UTC+3 all year with no daylight saving time, but Russia spans eleven time zones, so a partner in Vladivostok is seven hours ahead of Moscow. The calendar itself is national, although some republics add regional non-working days.

Russia's long breaks rarely line up with other countries'. Its New Year holidays come in early January, while China's Spring Festival usually falls in late January or February, so a project between the two can lose two separate weeks. Check both calendars before setting delivery dates.

Questions

Is the production calendar a law?

No single document is called that. The calendar follows from the Labour Code and the annual government decree; legal reference services publish it in calendar form.

Do shortened days reduce pay?

No. Article 95 shortens the working day by one hour; employees are paid as for a full day.

Is 31 December 2027 a public holiday?

No. It is a day off because the decree moved the day off from Sunday 3 January there.

When will the 2028 calendar be known?

When the government signs the decree for 2028, usually in September 2027 and in any case at least a month before the year starts.