Finland suspends postal services to Russia & Belarus; Ukraine acknowledges move

Finland has suspended postal services with Russia and its staunch ally Belarus for the brutal invasion of Ukraine. Posti, the Finnish state-run post operator, announced in a statement that it is halting letter and parcel traffic to Russia and Belarus effective April 11, the company's website reported. "The suspension concerns letter and parcel traffic from Finland to Russia and Belarus as well as from Russia and Belarus to Finland. Shipments that cannot be delivered will be returned to the senders," Posti said. Ukraine on Monday acknowledged Finland's move, stating that the country was "not working in word but in deed" in condemnation of Russia's atrocities.   

Shipments to Russia, Belarus from Finland 'will be returned to the senders': Operator 

Finnish postal service operator cited "exceptional circumstances" for scrapping the service to the two countries as per the Universal Postal Union agreements. Furthermore, it iterated that the traffic would be suspended "until further notice."  It explained that shipments that will be dispatched to either Moscow or Minsk will not go through. "On March 15, 2022, Posti made the decision to temporarily suspend international express item services for companies and consumers, i.e. express letters and goods (EMS items), to Russia and Belarus," it outlined. 

Earlier, the German logistics company Deutsche Post, DHL also suspended the delivery of goods and documents to Russia and Belarus in a retaliatory move against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As per a message on the company's website, the reception of parcels in both countries had been suspended until further notice.  A similar measure was taken by the US-based United Parcel Service Inc and FedEx Corp, two of the world's largest logistics companies. They announced that they are halting delivery service to Russia and Ukraine in light of the heightened tensions in the neighbouring countries. A statement was shared online by UPS and FedEx that both inbound and outbound services have been suspended. 

Last month, Finland's VR Transpoint, the logistics branch of VR Group, suspended all rail freight traffic to and from Russia. VR Group is Finland’s government-owned railway company. The stoppage came into force as a result of the sanctions on Russia. Meanwhile, Swiss Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the Danish Maersk, and the French CMA CGM, the world's largest container carriers have also stopped accepting orders for the transportation of containers to and from Russia.