A letter to a political prisoner from anywhere in the world in 3 days! We talk about the Russian Post online service

Many people use the “F-letter” and “Zonatelecom” services to correspond with political prisoners, which is very convenient for short letters of 1–2 pages. The main thing is that they will be delivered very quickly, and even with a response form. But as soon as you need to send, for example, an article or several pictures, the cost of such sending immediately increases to the price of a pack of paper. And when such articles need to be sent not to one, but to several prisoners, we are talking about several thousand rubles.

Therefore, in this material we want to talk about a site that we actively use ourselves - the Russian Post online service . This method is suitable for sending large letters with any content. The Russian Post service allows you to fill in the recipient’s details and attach a file with the letter. We tell you how to use this from our own (extensive) experience.

Hello! If you are reading this text, it means that what we are talking about is important to you. Help the project continue its work! You can send a donation using this link or by clicking on the button at the end of this page.

How does this work?

The Russian Post service is mainly used by those who need to send a registered letter, for example, to a court or other government agency. In addition to government agencies, messages can be sent to organizations and individuals. There are two types of letters available for sending: registered and simple. In the case of a registered shipment, you will have access to a delivery report directly in your personal account.

After generation and payment, your letter will be sent to the nearest branch to the recipient, where the ERP (electronic registered letters) service is available. The department staff will print it, pack it in an envelope and give it to the postman or send it to the desired department.

Letters are printed on a black and white printer, paper format – A4. Keep this in mind when sending your photo: it will not be in color. There is no response provided for this type of mail - it is a one-way letter.

Registration and payment

To access the service you will need an account on State Services. There is no other way to log in to the Russian Post website. Despite the fact that the main website of Russian Post is not accessible from foreign IP addresses, the page for sending registered letters can be opened from anywhere in the world.

It is important to note that once you log in to the site, you will receive letters from government agencies in your personal account. This can be a nuisance.

Personal account

In your personal account, the “New letter” button and the following tabs are available: Inbox, Outbox, Drafts and Archive.

Writing a letter

In the letter form, you must select the type of letter:

• Simple is cheaper, but you will not have access to the delivery report.
• Registered - we recommend sending it, it is more expensive, but the current delivery status and the exact date of delivery will be known.

In the right drop-down list you need to select “Individual”. After this, a form with the recipient's data will open.

You must indicate your full name, and be sure to add your date of birth in the “Recipient’s Address” field - without it, the letter may not be sent. Example of filled fields:

 Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich
 111020, Moscow, st. Lefortovo Val, 5, building 1, pre-trial detention center, Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich, born in 1991.

You can then add up to 30 recipients. Russian Post will automatically distribute letters to the nearest branches, even if the recipients are located in different regions.

The letter itself can be written on the site itself, but it is better to upload the file - this way the font and layout will be preserved. Files have a size limit of 10 MB. If the file size is larger, use online compression services (for example, a PDF file can be compressed by almost 98% on this site ).

Available file formats:

• PDF;
• DOCX;
• JPEG;
• PNG;
• XLSX.

We recommend downloading a PDF file - this way the arrangement of elements inside the document will be accurately preserved when printing. After downloading the file, you can open a preview. If everything is correct, you can pay. Only MIR cards are suitable for payment. After the first payment, subsequent shipments will be debited automatically, without sending a code.

Tariffs

For paper letters there is a limit of 19 pages - you cannot send more in one letter. If your letter is less than the maximum quantity, we recommend adding a few blank sheets of paper. They will not be counted towards the weight, and the recipient will have extra paper!

Tariffs of the Russian Post online service:

Delivery times

According to our statistics, the average delivery time to pre-trial detention centers, prisons and colonies is 7 days. Sometimes a letter can be delivered in 3 days, and sometimes in 2 weeks. However, the deadlines can vary greatly even for the same institution.

It is important that when determining delivery times by Russian Post, it is necessary to take into account the passage of censorship in the institution itself.

You can always view the delivery report in your personal account by expanding the information about the letter.

Where can I find the addresses of political prisoners?

If you have not yet decided which political prisoner you want to write to, addresses, their interests and information about the case can be found on the website piolitzek.org .