Delays hit national Russian postal system as sanctions push sorting back to manual

Pochta Rossii (Russian Post), Russia's national postal operator, has switched to manual letter sorting and mail deliveries are being delayed for a month or more, even within the same region. Source: Russian newspaper Parlamentskaya Gazeta; independent Amsterdam-based news outlet The Moscow Times Details: The situation has arisen because some foreign-made equipment has stopped working as a result of Western sanctions.

"So far, not all the logistics equipment in sorting centres has been replaced with Russian equipment," Alan Kozonov, Deputy CEO of Russian Post, told the Federation Council (the upper chamber of the Russian parliament) at a meeting on 21 April. "The existing machinery is regularly blocked remotely by foreign companies or breaks down, and finding spare parts is becoming increasingly challenging."

Kozonov added that the largest sorting centre, located in the city of Podolsk near Moscow, is currently operating manually, The Moscow Times reported. The newspaper notes that to resume full operations, Russian Post needs to replace the out-of-order Western equipment with Russian-made machinery, but there is an insufficient supply of domestic equivalents.

Parlamentskaya Gazeta noted that delays in letter delivery have affected senior Russian officials, parliamentarians, and even its own editorial staff. Background: Chinese nationals have begun actively smuggling body armour, tactical backpacks, military uniforms and other equipment from Russia in order to study them and produce cheaper replicas.

To do so, they exploit various loopholes, particularly within postal service operations.

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