Both dns1.yandex.ru and dns2.yandex.ru appear to have identical traceroute. Therefore, Яндекс.Почта DNS hosting obviously sucks, especially if you’d be hosting not only Yandex.Mail on your domain name, but, say, some other stuff like a web-site or SIP, too.

From att.com/uverse in San Jose, CA:

% traceroute dns1.yandex.ru; traceroute dns2.yandex.ru; date
traceroute to dns1.yandex.ru (213.180.204.213), 32 hops max, 40 byte packets
 5  12.83.39.137 (12.83.39.137)  2.039 ms  1.791 ms  1.667 ms
 6  la2ca02jt.ip.att.net (12.123.30.17)  13.612 ms  13.675 ms  13.765 ms
 7  xe-5-2-0.lax20.ip4.tinet.net (77.67.79.173)  13.827 ms  13.803 ms  13.899 ms
 8  xe-0-3-0.ams10.ip4.tinet.net (89.149.183.81)  166.189 ms xe-8-2-0.ams10.ip4.tinet.net (213.200.81.145)  161.866 ms xe-8-3-0.ams10.ip4.tinet.net (89.149.186.133)  258.904 ms
 9  yandex-gw.ip4.tinet.net (141.136.96.6)  170.196 ms  158.815 ms  158.849 ms
10  l3-gangut-tulip.yandex.net (213.180.213.115)  202.631 ms  205.264 ms  202.525 ms
11  * * *
12  l3-s3600-marionetka.yandex.net (213.180.213.88)  205.531 ms  201.928 ms  201.829 ms
13  dns1.yandex.ru (213.180.204.213)  201.793 ms  201.568 ms  204.739 ms
traceroute to dns2.yandex.ru (93.158.134.213), 32 hops max, 40 byte packets
 5  12.83.39.137 (12.83.39.137)  2.239 ms  1.657 ms  1.784 ms
 6  la2ca02jt.ip.att.net (12.123.30.17)  13.802 ms  13.878 ms  13.683 ms
 7  xe-5-2-0.lax20.ip4.tinet.net (77.67.79.173)  13.914 ms  13.986 ms  46.040 ms
 8  xe-0-3-0.ams10.ip4.tinet.net (89.149.183.81)  165.752 ms  168.511 ms xe-8-2-0.ams10.ip4.tinet.net (213.200.81.145)  161.906 ms
 9  yandex-gw.ip4.tinet.net (141.136.96.6)  159.523 ms  158.930 ms  159.943 ms
10  l3-gangut-tulip.yandex.net (213.180.213.115)  205.284 ms  205.518 ms  205.624 ms
11  * * *
12  l3-s3600-marionetka.yandex.net (213.180.213.88)  206.241 ms  205.692 ms  204.933 ms
13  dns2.yandex.ru (93.158.134.213)  204.772 ms  201.898 ms  205.201 ms
Tue 18 Oct 2011 23:37:18 PDT

From firstvds.ru in Moscow:

# traceroute dns1.yandex.ru ; traceroute dns2.yandex.ru ; date
traceroute to dns1.yandex.ru (213.180.204.213), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
 1  gw.webdc.ru (188.120.247.254)  1.523 ms  0.545 ms  0.820 ms
 2  92.63.108.89 (92.63.108.89)  0.976 ms  18.493 ms  1.085 ms
 3  * * *
 4  l3-s3600-marionetka.yandex.net (213.180.213.88)  2.057 ms  2.616 ms  2.473 ms
 5  dns1.yandex.ru (213.180.204.213)  1.990 ms  2.327 ms  2.552 ms
traceroute to dns2.yandex.ru (93.158.134.213), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
 1  gw.webdc.ru (188.120.247.254)  1.305 ms  0.978 ms  0.833 ms
 2  92.63.108.89 (92.63.108.89)  2.304 ms  0.864 ms  0.660 ms
 3  * * *
 4  l3-s3600-marionetka.yandex.net (213.180.213.88)  2.603 ms  2.609 ms  2.466 ms
 5  dns2.yandex.ru (93.158.134.213)  1.949 ms  2.429 ms  2.443 ms
Wed Oct 19 17:03:58 EDT 2011

Upon further investigation, I’d say that it even sucks if you’d only be using it with Yandex.Mail in the first place! Looks like even mx.yandex.ru may have better redundancy than their DNS service.

% host mx.yandex.ru | sed "s/mx.yandex.ru has address //g" | xargs -n1 traceroute -M5 -w2
traceroute to 77.88.21.89 (77.88.21.89), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
 5  12.83.39.137 (12.83.39.137)  2.344 ms  2.124 ms  1.724 ms
 6  la2ca02jt.ip.att.net (12.123.30.17)  13.847 ms  13.723 ms  13.671 ms
 7  xe-5-2-0.lax20.ip4.tinet.net (77.67.79.173)  14.044 ms  14.092 ms  13.920 ms
 8  xe-1-0-0.ams10.ip4.tinet.net (89.149.183.122)  159.297 ms xe-0-3-0.ams10.ip4.tinet.net (89.149.183.81)  169.054 ms  168.906 ms
 9  yandex-gw.ip4.tinet.net (141.136.96.6)  159.063 ms  160.530 ms  159.508 ms
10  l3-gangut-tulip.yandex.net (213.180.213.115)  205.342 ms  207.875 ms  211.918 ms
11  * * *
12  l3-s3500-marionetka.yandex.net (213.180.213.76)  201.913 ms  202.491 ms  211.171 ms
13  l3-s900-s3500.yandex.net (213.180.213.72)  210.255 ms  210.614 ms  207.868 ms
14  mx1.yandex.ru (77.88.21.89)  204.292 ms  207.211 ms  206.251 ms
traceroute to 213.180.204.89 (213.180.204.89), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
 5  12.83.39.137 (12.83.39.137)  2.014 ms  1.684 ms  1.749 ms
 6  la2ca02jt.ip.att.net (12.123.30.17)  13.658 ms  13.695 ms  13.688 ms
 7  xe-5-2-0.lax20.ip4.tinet.net (77.67.79.173)  13.961 ms  14.905 ms  13.972 ms
 8  xe-1-0-0.ams10.ip4.tinet.net (89.149.183.122)  160.214 ms xe-0-3-0.ams10.ip4.tinet.net (89.149.183.81)  165.428 ms xe-8-3-0.ams10.ip4.tinet.net (89.149.186.133)  194.047 ms
 9  yandex-gw.ip4.tinet.net (141.136.96.6)  159.857 ms  160.705 ms  162.012 ms
10  l3-gangut-tulip.yandex.net (213.180.213.115)  238.103 ms  211.535 ms  202.977 ms
11  * * *
12  l3-s3600-marionetka.yandex.net (213.180.213.88)  205.262 ms  207.038 ms  205.193 ms
13  l3-s3200-s3600.yandex.net (213.180.213.50)  208.629 ms  207.616 ms  210.033 ms
14  mx3.yandex.ru (213.180.204.89)  211.595 ms  201.737 ms  203.299 ms
traceroute to 93.158.134.89 (93.158.134.89), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
 5  12.83.39.137 (12.83.39.137)  2.387 ms  1.704 ms  1.633 ms
 6  la2ca02jt.ip.att.net (12.123.30.17)  13.691 ms  13.626 ms  13.694 ms
 7  xe-5-2-0.lax20.ip4.tinet.net (77.67.79.173)  13.877 ms  14.041 ms  13.969 ms
 8  xe-1-0-0.ams10.ip4.tinet.net (89.149.183.122)  159.778 ms xe-0-3-0.ams10.ip4.tinet.net (89.149.183.81)  168.959 ms xe-1-0-0.ams10.ip4.tinet.net (89.149.183.122)  163.877 ms
 9  yandex-gw.ip4.tinet.net (141.136.96.6)  163.435 ms  159.811 ms  162.078 ms
10  l3-gangut-tulip.yandex.net (213.180.213.115)  208.783 ms  211.837 ms  206.500 ms
11  * * *
12  l3-s3500-marionetka.yandex.net (213.180.213.76)  205.963 ms  207.030 ms  206.647 ms
13  l3-s650-s3500.yandex.net (213.180.213.7)  202.334 ms  201.500 ms  207.221 ms
14  mx2.yandex.ru (93.158.134.89)  199.423 ms  199.987 ms  203.637 ms
traceroute to 87.250.250.89 (87.250.250.89), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
 5  12.83.39.137 (12.83.39.137)  1.948 ms  1.565 ms  1.646 ms
 6  la2ca02jt.ip.att.net (12.123.30.17)  13.662 ms  22.173 ms  13.837 ms
 7  xe-5-2-0.lax20.ip4.tinet.net (77.67.79.173)  14.023 ms  13.909 ms  13.903 ms
 8  xe-8-3-0.ams10.ip4.tinet.net (89.149.186.133)  179.105 ms  162.339 ms  159.205 ms
 9  yandex-gw.ip4.tinet.net (141.136.96.6)  162.033 ms  162.398 ms  159.495 ms
10  l3-gangut-tulip.yandex.net (213.180.213.115)  209.296 ms  208.020 ms  206.566 ms
11  * * *
12  l3-s3600-marionetka.yandex.net (213.180.213.88)  206.419 ms  202.320 ms  207.654 ms
13  mx4.yandex.ru (87.250.250.89)  203.438 ms  206.084 ms  207.765 ms

# host mx.yandex.ru | sed "s/mx.yandex.ru has address //g" | xargs -n1 traceroute -M4 
traceroute to 87.250.250.89 (87.250.250.89), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
 4  l3-s3600-marionetka.yandex.net (213.180.213.88)  5.151 ms  2.669 ms  2.320 ms
 5  mx4.yandex.ru (87.250.250.89)  2.777 ms  2.338 ms  2.470 ms
traceroute to 93.158.134.89 (93.158.134.89), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
 4  l3-s3500-marionetka.yandex.net (213.180.213.76)  2.882 ms  14.323 ms  2.354 ms
 5  l3-s650-s3500.yandex.net (213.180.213.7)  2.883 ms  2.969 ms  4.096 ms
 6  mx2.yandex.ru (93.158.134.89)  3.276 ms  2.900 ms  3.073 ms
traceroute to 213.180.204.89 (213.180.204.89), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
 4  l3-s3600-marionetka.yandex.net (213.180.213.88)  4.535 ms  4.114 ms  3.019 ms
 5  l3-s3200-s3600.yandex.net (213.180.213.50)  2.989 ms  2.675 ms  2.994 ms
 6  mx3.yandex.ru (213.180.204.89)  2.426 ms  2.641 ms  2.535 ms
traceroute to 77.88.21.89 (77.88.21.89), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
 4  l3-s900-dante.yandex.net (213.180.213.70)  2.393 ms  2.928 ms  1.939 ms
 5  mx1.yandex.ru (77.88.21.89)  1.964 ms  1.870 ms  1.531 ms

% traceroute -I yandex.com ; traceroute -I www.yandex.com ; date
traceroute: Warning: yandex.com has multiple addresses; using 213.180.204.11
traceroute to yandex.com (213.180.204.11), 32 hops max, 60 byte packets
 5  12.83.39.137 (12.83.39.137)  2.165 ms  1.681 ms  1.531 ms
 6  la2ca02jt.ip.att.net (12.123.30.17)  13.733 ms  13.547 ms  13.522 ms
 7  xe-5-2-0.lax20.ip4.tinet.net (77.67.79.173)  13.878 ms  13.806 ms  13.811 ms
 8  xe-8-2-0.ams10.ip4.tinet.net (213.200.81.145)  164.793 ms  164.954 ms  164.901 ms
 9  yandex-gw.ip4.tinet.net (141.136.96.6)  161.798 ms  161.730 ms  161.652 ms
10  l3-gangut-tulip.yandex.net (213.180.213.115)  205.039 ms  205.039 ms  205.050 ms
11  l3-marionetka-gangut.yandex.net (213.180.213.127)  204.399 ms  205.313 ms  204.408 ms
12  l3-s3600-marionetka.yandex.net (213.180.213.88)  204.779 ms  204.844 ms  204.731 ms
13  * * *
14  yandex.ru (213.180.204.11)  205.384 ms  205.157 ms  204.994 ms
traceroute: Warning: www.yandex.com has multiple addresses; using 213.180.204.3
traceroute to www.yandex.ru (213.180.204.3), 32 hops max, 60 byte packets
 5  12.83.39.137 (12.83.39.137)  2.088 ms  1.536 ms  1.589 ms
 6  la2ca02jt.ip.att.net (12.123.30.17)  13.547 ms  13.502 ms  13.759 ms
 7  xe-5-2-0.lax20.ip4.tinet.net (77.67.79.173)  13.714 ms  13.855 ms  13.766 ms
 8  xe-0-3-0.ams10.ip4.tinet.net (89.149.183.81)  165.278 ms  165.235 ms  165.241 ms
 9  yandex-gw.ip4.tinet.net (141.136.96.6)  158.707 ms  158.591 ms  186.121 ms
10  www.yandex.ru (213.180.204.3)  157.878 ms  157.730 ms  157.734 ms
Thu 20 Oct 2011 01:01:51 PDT