Belarusians En Masse Refuse Postmen In Taking "Chain Letters"

Piles of letters from the tax inspection, which no one wants to take, are gathering dust in post offices.

Euroradio visited one of the Minsk Belposhta offices and photographed a pile of registered letters with the requirement to pay the fee for "parasitism". Postmen made attempts to deliver these envelopes to recipients, as, according to Lukashenka’s decree, they are to be delivered under signed receipt or to "parasites" personally, or to their representatives. But they failed for various reasons.

Another pile, a smaller one, lies behind one of the postmen. Now they do not deliver "chain letters" to the flats, they only remind the people, that the "tax" is waiting for them at the post office.

"Once a man threw such a letter in my face," – a postman said.

"I’ve read on the Internet that those, who do not pay, will be put in jail," – another one added.

"There was such a case: I brought two letters to an apartment. There lived a woman with two children: her daughter lived abroad and her son – here. He actually worked, but he had been registered at work with some mistakes, and the organization had not been listing off money for him. They asked me what to do, and I did not know what to say," – another employee of the department chimes in.

"I met afterwards a man, whom I had brought such a letter, and he said:"Thank you for the New Year's gift," –the woman, who has mentioned the prison, adds. – And I say: "Excuse me, it doesn’t depend on me!".

According to the postmen, their department has received nearly a thousand "chain letters" from the tax inspection. Half of them they managed to hand in to the people ( "First they were taking those letters without problems, because they did not know what was there"). Approximately 500 envelopes with receipts are awaiting their recipients at the post office.

As of early 2016, Belposhta commanded 3255 post officers.