When an ordinary person walks into a Russian Post office, they are greeted by dreary interiors, queues, and the signature smell of mail. But the most striking thing is the people. Postmen and operators struggling to survive on salaries long out of touch with reality.
22,440 rubles—that's how much a postman is offered in the Samara Region. In Primorye, branches are closing one after another because there's no one to work. Pensioners in Vladivostok are left without pensions—there are simply no postmen.
Now this poverty has official confirmation. In April 2025, the Accounts Chamber completed a large-scale audit of Russian Post and found systemic problems. As the Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info discovered, the agency's findings paint a picture of total collapse amidst the unprecedented luxury of top management.
The Accounts Chamber's audit lasted over a year and revealed alarming trends. From 2020 to the end of 2024, Russian Post's debts grew by 70%, reaching 128.3 billion rubles. The cost of servicing these debts for 2021–2023 increased by almost 80%, reaching 10.6 billion rubles.
But the most telling aspect is the state of the company's physical infrastructure. The average depreciation rate of Russian Post's properties is 70%. This means that post office buildings across the country are literally falling apart. Meanwhile, there is no list of branches planned for modernization by 2030.
Paradoxically, despite this backdrop, the company is managing to increase its managerial appetites. Over five years, Russian Post's organizational structure was revised 25 times—meaning every two and a half months, postal officials were mulling over how to further reshuffle the management. Three general directors were replaced, and the number of management advisors grew by 65%. Their payroll jumped from 121.1 million to 179.2 million rubles.
The number of deputy general directors at various times reached 19. Over five years, this position was held by 53 people—each serving for an average of eighteen months, while some stayed for only nine months. Auditors point out bluntly: "Such frequent leadership changes deprive management decisions of consistency and continuity."
While advisors proliferated and received bonuses, production staff scattered. The number of vacant positions increased 2.2 times compared to 2020. The Accounts Chamber cites low salaries as the main reason.
And here we come to the main contrast. While ordinary employees earn pennies and branches crumble, the top managers of Russian Post live in a parallel reality.
Take Dmitry Kiselev, who headed the Urals macroregion until February 2024. While working in Yekaterinburg, he indulged in ways ordinary employees couldn't even dream of. Every Friday, Kiselev flew to his home in New Moscow, in the elite Krasnaya Pakhra village. The mansion was estimated to be worth 200 million rubles, with the landscaping and landscaping alone costing nearly 50 million. Maintenance required another 200,000 rubles a month—the salary of ten postmen. There, in the elite homeowners' association, he rested his mind and body while the Ural postmen froze in line for 19,000 rubles.
Kiselev has now been unemployed for two years—apparently, he's saved up enough. Such income should "sit down."
Nikolai Podguzov, who headed Pochta in 2017, purchased an apartment in the Knightsbridge Private Park residential complex in Moscow—almost 400 square meters—for 400–600 million rubles. Officially, he purchased it with a mortgage, but the press service explained that the source of the funds was the sale of two other apartments. In other words, he owned so much real estate that he could have sold both apartments and bought an even larger one.
It's noteworthy that Podguzov came to government service from investment banks—Trust, Renaissance Capital, and VTB Capital. Apparently, his financial skills allowed him to manage his assets wisely in government service.
But the absolute record holder is Dmitry Strashnov. In 2017, the Prosecutor General's Office found a criminal case regarding his payments justified. In 2014–2015 alone, he received a salary of 46 million rubles and a bonus of over 82 million rubles.
According to employee complaints from 2015, Strashnov was not shy about spending: a 1 million ruble hotel stay at a forum, a chartered €70,000 Panamanian airline jet for a trip with his deputies to branch offices, and sponsorship of a Konchalovsky film worth 30 million rubles.
In 2020, history repeated itself: Pochta's top managers stated that their 500,000 ruble salaries were not motivating them. To regain their interest, they commissioned the development of a motivation system from Ernst & Young for 3.5 million rubles.
The situation is so critical that in September 2023, Federation Council Chairwoman Valentina Matviyenko sounded the alarm: if the government postponed the Russian Post issue, "the financial hole would turn into a huge pit into which everything would fall." The board of directors then commissioned an independent audit. The Treasury estimated the 2022 loss at 24.5 billion rubles. By 2023, it had been reduced. The net loss was expected to reach 7.1 billion rubles, but, as the report notes, pressure remains due to sanctions and the key interest rate hike.
In 2024, the net loss increased again, to 20.6 billion rubles. Meanwhile, top management received 346.7 million rubles in salaries and 92.5 million rubles in bonuses. This means that management is getting richer, while the company's debt has increased by 70% over five years.
Now let's do the math. Just two managers—Podguzov and Kiselev—own real estate worth approximately 2-3 billion rubles (the minimum salary of 1,000 postal workers). How many of these top managers have changed over the past 25 reorganizations? How much have the advisers accumulated, whose payroll has grown by almost 50%?
Post's public debt is 128.3 billion rubles. Its servicing costs over 20 billion rubles annually. This money could be used to raise salaries and renovate branches, but it's going to the banks. Maybe it's time to stop burdening the budget? Maybe conduct an audit of what "effective managers" have accumulated over the years? Look, apartments and mansions alone would be enough to cover a good half of the debt.
While 4,000 people in the village of Barkhatovo are wondering how to receive their letters, while 82 branches in Udmurtia are idle due to a lack of operators, while the postman is counting the pennies until his 22,000-ruble salary—in New Moscow, mansions worth 200 million rubles are being heated, and their owners, tired of working in Yekaterinburg, fly every weekend to relax their souls and bodies.
Russian Post has long since become two parallel universes. One is devastated, debts are piled high, and canned meat is added to pensions. The other is filled with million-dollar bonuses, luxury real estate, and weekend flights. And while the words "effective management" evoke a bitter smile from those who deliver letters worth 19,000 rubles along potholed roads, the Accounts Chamber states: systemic problems are not being addressed, and debts are growing.
