Russian Post suspends acceptance of parcels with goods to U.S. owing to imposition of duties

MOSCOW. Aug 26 (Interfax) - JSC Russian Post has suspended accepting parcels containing goods to the United States as of August 26, owing to the U.S. authorities imposing import duties on these parcels and air carriers suspending deliveries.

Russian Post said that the U.S. government had adopted a decree that suspends the duty-free regime and imposes import duties on parcels containing goods as of August 29, 2025. The restriction does not apply to written correspondence.

Russian Post also said that the procedure to pay duties at the U.S. Customs Service remains unclear, thus air carriers have ceased delivering parcels containing goods to the United States.

"Russian Post is temporarily suspending the acceptance of shipments with goods to the United States as of August 26, 2025, owing to not being able to carry out air delivery on the route. We are making every effort to resume quickly the postal exchange of shipments with goods attached to the United States," the company said.

The company will continue to send correspondence to the country.

Russian Post told Interfax that the U.S. was the biggest destination for postal exports from Russia with a 23% share at the moment, up from 20% in the first four months of 2025. The exports include board games, beauty and health products (protein bars are in strong demand) and auto parts to customize cars are exported.

European postal operators, in particular, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and others, have also suspended parcel post to the U.S. due to the duties, European media report.

Some 1.36 billion parcels containing goods worth $64.6 billion were shipped under the so-called de minimis exception last year, according to U.S. customs data cited by The Guardian. However, they will now be subject to a 15% duty - the same as most other imports from the EU.