RS Brief news A Russian mail backlog results in a dismissal

A Russian mail backlog results in a dismissal

June 2013

© RIA Novosti, Aleksey Fillipov
post
Unsorted mail in the Vnukovo airport customs area (Moscow) in April, 2013

Russian Post CEO Alexander Kiselyov has been sacked with his powers terminated on April 19, 2013. Mr. Kiselyov was replaced by Dmitry Strashnov, a former CEO of Tele2 Russia, whose assignment took effect immediately.

This cardinal decision on the part of the Russian Government was caused by an unprecedented mail backlog at Moscow’s airports, where the backlog of international packages reached nearly 500 tonnes in early April. The backlog was so huge that a 5-day moratorium on international mail was imposed at Sheremetyevo Airport. In this context, there was a situation where the postal company refused to unload mail from airplanes for 2 days.

According to information published on Russian Post’s website a day before Alexander Kiselyov’s dismissal, “…as early as 12 months ago, the national postal operator not only warned about a rapid increase in foreign postal items (reaching 100% a year), but also took all necessary measures to prevent a postal collapse. In addition to the 8 existing international postal exchange offices (IPEO), Russian Post launched 3 new regional IPEOs, increasing its operating area from 17,900 square meters to 23,150 square meters…..If Russian Post had been allowed to launch those facilities as scheduled and man them with required customs staff, the international postal exchange infrastructure would have been adequate at present, with no backlog awaiting customs clearance built up.” Time will show whether the new Russian Post CEO will manage to solve the operator’s problems. RS