By three years
Russia raises maximum age for conscripts
07/21/2023, 4:09 p.m
In the war of aggression against Ukraine, Russian troops suffer heavy casualties. At the same time, Defense Minister Shoigu wants to increase the armed forces. Now the maximum age for conscripts is to be raised from 27 to 30 years.
In the middle of the war against Ukraine, Russia wants to raise the maximum draft age by three years. In future, men up to the age of 30 should be able to be drafted into the army, announced the chairman of the Duma’s Defense Committee, Andrei Kartapolov, in Moscow. So far, the maximum age is 27 years.
The minimum age, however, should remain at 18 years, as reported by the state agency Interfax, citing Kartapolow. In the meantime it had been announced that it should be increased to 21 years. According to media reports, the new regulation will apply from next spring. Parliament still has to agree.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had already announced changes at the end of last year. Observers explained this with the planned increase in the armed forces from the current 1.15 to 1.5 million soldiers. At the same time, independent media pointed out that the new army regulations could bring in hundreds of thousands of additional conscripts. The maximum age for calling up reservists was recently raised from 50 to 55.
Russia has been waging a large-scale offensive against Ukraine since February last year – with high losses in its own ranks. In order to be able to send more soldiers to the front, President Vladimir Putin had 300,000 reservists mobilized in the fall. Conscripts, on the other hand, are not officially sent to the war zone. However, especially in the first months of the war, there were repeated reports of their deployment in Ukraine. They can also take on tasks to secure the hinterland.