UPS are unable to send from Spain anything except documents of no commercial value by courier to private citizens in Russia. They can deliver to companies but even then there is a limit to the value of the goods, $200 maximum outside Moscow and St. Petersburg. FedEx are able to deliver small parcels of low value.
The problem is not with the International Courier Companies it is caused by Customs in Russia who are turning away the packages. For instance, we were prohibited from sending a Russian executive’s mobile phone to him in Kursk, which he had left behind in Spain, because is was worth €350 and the limit for that particular region is €200. And Kursk borders Europe, this is no Siberia. The poor gentleman had to travel to Moscow to retrieve his telephone and pay import duty on something that was already his.
Currently, a child’s dress is being returned, refused by Russian customs because it was addressed to the child’s mother and not to an authorised company.
Let’s just examine this for the moment. The USA’s FDA prior notice forms give me a headache every time I have to complete them but they are at least open, available and they work. Russia is banning the gift or sale of a baby’s clothing couriered from Spain. In the days of the Cold War, we used to refer to the USSR (Soviet Union) as the Second World and to very poor countries as the Third World (obviously, reserving First World for ourselves). Now that the Berlin Wall has fallen it seems that Russia gets more assertive by the day – compared to courier deliveries to and from communist China, which are relatively simple, it is a nightmare.
Someone in the US or Britain should take notice of the customs restrictions, they seem to me to be the thin edge of the wedge.
