Postal workers have always been of great importance for such a vast country like Russia. For people in far-flung corners, they are the only lifeline tying them to the mainland. Here are 13 historical snapshots of the postal service and its unsung heroes.
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Multimedia Art Museum Moscow / Moscow House of Photography
1900s. Postmen pose for a picture in front of a post office.
RIA Novosti
1913. A postman.
Multimedia Art Museum Moscow / Moscow House of Photography
1938. A post office worker in Ivanovo (345 km northeast of Moscow).
RIA Novosti
1943. A Red Army tanker asks a postman if there is mail for him.
TASS
1963. Post employees sort out the mail.
V. Kunyaev/TASS
1969. A postman delivers mail to a Soviet military ship.
Boris Myasnikov/TASS
1972. Post employees Flera Mansurova, Lyudmila Kuznetsova and Valentina Ozherelyeva at work in Naberezhnye Chelny (1064km east of Moscow).
Viktor Koshevoy/TASS
1977. A post office information desk in the entrance hall of an apartment building in Moscow.
Albert Pushkarev/TASS
1982. A view of the customer floor at the central post office in Moscow.
Igor Zotin/TASS
1987. A post office employee instructs an intern.
Semyon Maisterman/TASS
1987. Postwoman Irina Volkova delivers mail to reindeer breeder Yury Filippov in Lovozero, Murmansk Region (1846km north of Moscow).
Leonid Sverdlov/TASS
1987. Vshchizh, Bryansk Region (448km southwest of Moscow). Postal delivery worker Ivan Frolenkov on duty during the muddy season.
