Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree permitting Russian Post employees to be issued devices designed to counter unmanned aerial, underwater and surface vessels, as well as automated drone systems, according to a document published on the official legal information portal.
The decree does not specify which categories of employees would receive the devices. The list of weapons permitted for postal workers was originally approved in 2005, and previously included 9mm pistols for heads of mail cars and staff responsible for transit cash desks, as well as traumatic weapons, stun guns and body armor, according to Mediazona.
Demand for drone protection has grown sharply in recent months. In August, Vedomosti reported that commercial companies' purchases of anti-drone equipment in the first six months of 2026 increased 6.6-fold year-on-year, reaching 441.3 million rubles.
In late May, President Vladimir Putin instructed the presidential administration and the government, together with business representatives, to develop proposals for protecting enterprises from drone attacks, Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs head Alexander Shokhin told journalists.