Russia has allowed the sale of alcohol through the postal service to save the company from losses
The State Duma of the Russian Federation has authorized “Russian Post” to sell domestic wine through its own website in Moscow and the Moscow Region. The corresponding bill was passed on first reading at a session on Wednesday, November 11.
Vyacheslav Volodin, Speaker of the lower house of parliament, stated that this initiative is intended to support the national postal operator and Russian wine producers. To place an order, customers will need to verify their age through the “State Services” portal, and delivery will take up to 24 hours. Volodin assured that the new measure will not lead to an increase in alcohol consumption, since there are liquor stores in almost every neighborhood, whereas online orders will require a wait.
Nadiya Shkolkina, deputy chair of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, stated that the new initiative will make citizens’ lives more convenient. At the same time, she emphasized that this does not involve courier delivery: customers will have to pick up their ordered wine themselves at a post office. According to her, the initiative will also help promote Russian wines and support small wineries. The Ministry of Agriculture will approve the list of companies permitted to sell their products through the “Russian Post” website. The ministry’s head, Oksana Lut, reported that the pilot program will last three years and will involve only the state-owned company. Further decisions will be made based on its results.
Online sales of alcohol have been banned in Russia since 2007, but there have been repeated attempts to legalize such trade in the years since. Initially, the Ministry of Finance drafted a bill to this effect, planning to launch online sales in 2020. However, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Internal Affairs opposed this initiative. In 2021, Vladimir Putin instructed the government and “Russian Post” to conduct an experiment involving the sale of Russian wines.
The Russian authorities took this step amid financial difficulties faced by the national postal operator, which has been incurring significant losses since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine. According to international financial reporting standards, the company lost 30.4 billion rubles in 2022, 8.1 billion in 2023, 17.1 billion in 2024, and 23.7 billion rubles in 2025. Total losses over the four years reached 79.3 billion rubles. In the first half of 2026, the company recorded another 10.1 billion rubles in losses. At the end of 2025, Russian Post’s total debt stood at 126.5 billion rubles, and it spends about 20 billion rubles annually just to service that debt.
Russian authorities are trying to find additional sources of revenue for the state-owned company. In particular, the government proposed granting Russian Post the exclusive right to deliver 18+ category goods, including sex toys, energy drinks, and fireworks. In July, a law was also signed to support the postal operator. It provides for the introduction of mandatory paid electronic services and the elimination of bank fees when accepting payments for housing and utility services.
This was reported by Russian propaganda media outlets.
We previously reported that “Russian Post” was offered the opportunity to sell alcohol following losses of 80 billion rubles.
Russia has banned alcohol from three Armenian producers.
