RAWALPINDI: The cash-starved Pakistan Post is facing difficulties in delivering mail (letters and parcels) to Russia as Russian Post has refused to accept orders due to $1.4 million in outstanding payments for the past three years.

Following this, Pakistan Post informed postmasters across the country not to book any letters or parcels for Russia until the issue with Russian Post is resolved.

A senior official of Pakistan Post told Dawn that mail to Russia had been temporarily suspended. He said Pakistan Post is presently facing difficulties in ensuring the delivery of mail to Russia due to pending issues with Russian Post.

“Consequently, the transmission of mail to Russia has been temporarily suspended until clearance of the outstanding issues. Approximately $1.4 million has been pending for the last three years and Russian Post has asked to clear the amount for further cooperation,” he said.

He added that, due to this issue, all field offices had been directed to immediately stop booking mail for Russia. The matter has been taken up with both the federal government and Russian Post.

When contacted, Noorul Saba, Director International Postal Services, confirmed the suspension and said the matter had been taken up with Russian Post and was likely to be resolved soon.

She said the pending amount was significant and that Pakistan Post had contacted its Russian counterpart to resolve the issue and end the suspension of mail services. The federal government had also been informed of the situation, she added.

It may be mentioned here that private airline Etihad Airways also suspended the uplift of all categories of international mail from September 1, after Pakistan Post failed to pay outstanding dues worth more than Rs200 million for mail transmission. Currently, only Pakistan International Airlines is transporting international mail to destinations where it operates flights.

To address this challenge, Pakistan Post sought the help of Qatar Post to forward mail via Doha.

The Additional Director Operations of Pakistan Post, who was in the UAE for the Council of Administration (CA) and Postal Operational Council (POC) session, held a meeting with his Qatari counterpart to reinforce the request.

Following this, Qatar Post agreed to provide its Closed Transit Service to Pakistan Post. Mail is now being sent to Doha, from where it is delivered to international destinations.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2025