Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered the country’s government to approve themodernisation programme for Russian Post, including possible financial support, by a deadline of
March 1, 2013.This deadline follows Putin’s meeting with Russian Post’s authorised representatives in Decemberlast year during which he admitted that the Russian postal operator is not efficient enough andthat its targets can only be achieved through higher funds or raising prices. He confirmed that thepostal industry needs state support and considerable investment as well as to develop itstechnological base and increase wages.
Russian Post first drew up the modernisation programme for its postal infrastructure back in2009 which was approved by the Federal government. But until now, no funds have been allocated fromthe state budget to implement the respective measures. A development strategy for Russian Post upto 2016 has also been prepared but is still awaiting approval.
“A specific instruction with clearly defined deadlines that Russian president Vladimir Putin hasissued gives us hope that the long overdue issue of adapting the state modernisation programme ofRussian Post will be solved in the near future. The state support will stimulate a furthereffective development of the post in the interests of Russian consumers. Russian Post’smodernisation represents a fundamental condition for improving quality and usability of postalservices in Russia while maintaining their full accessibility to all users throughout the country,”Russian Post CEO Alexander Kiselyov said.
Russian Post said that compared to other postal operators, its uniqueness is that it provides anenormous range of services at prices below cost while being a commercial enterprise at the sametime. It subsidises its social activities on its own through annual compensation worth around RUB13 billion (€319 million), gained on competitive markets, for the losses not covered by the statefrom socially important services. The postal operator also spends over RUB 5 billion (€123 million)on maintaining about 30,000 unprofitable rural post offices.
