Russia's postal service to open parcels during World Cup

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Russia will want to know what's in your mail during the World Cup. The postal service said on Friday its workers will be manually checking the contents of every parcel sent to the 11 host cities from May 1 to July 26.

The security precaution is part of a broader clampdown ordered by President Vladimir Putin for the June 14-July 15 football extravaganza.

Russian officials are imposing some of the measures well in advance to make sure preparations go off without a hitch.

"Parcels sent to these regions must be open (for inspection) when presented to postal service workers," the postal service said on its website.

It also urged people sending packages to include "a list of all the contents" for easier processing.

The postal service did not immediately respond to a request to spell out just how many parcels it expects to deliver to the 11 cities in the three months.

Russia has been bracing for the possibility that the most watched sporting event in the world could be a target of terrorism.

It won the hosting rights in 2010 and has since witnessed a string of deadly bombings linked to Islamists in its volatile north Caucasus.

Putin thanked US President Donald Trump in December for intelligence provided by the CIA that he said helped avert another strike in Saint Peterburg.

Russia says some of the militants are tied to various factions fighting the Moscow-backed government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Yet some of the security measures being unfurled by Russian security services have drawn murmurs of discontent.

Big business owners have been lobbying the government to keep their factories from being shuttered for the month in which games will be played.

The Kremlin believes some of the bigger plants that treat or produce hazardous materials pose a broader public health risk if attacked.

The postal office appeared to be trying to ward off any criticism by calling the parcel inspections "standard practice for postal operators across the world".

It added that similar procedures were put in place for the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi and last year's Confederations Cup.

The decision to manually dig through parcels also opens the postal service to questions about the safety of its screening procedures in more normal times.

Friday's statement said contents of deliveries were being constantly monitored "at various stages of shipping, including using special equipment".

It did not explain how the existing procedures were insufficient for the World Cup.