Russia is preparing to remove an age limit for joining the army, according to the agenda for Wednesday in the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, a text tabled in the midst of an offensive against Ukraine.
“The purpose of the bill is to eliminate the age limit for citizens of working age […]to which they have the right to conclude the first contract of military service, ”says the explanatory note to the bill.
According to this note, only citizens between the ages of 18 and 40 are currently allowed to enter into a first contract with the army. For foreign citizens, the window is 18 to 30 years old.
However, “for the use of high-precision weapons, the operation of weapons and military equipment, highly professional specialists are needed”, therefore older.
This law would help “attract specialists in popular, primarily civilian-related fields (medical support, engineering, maintenance, operations, communications, etc.) for military contract service,” the document says.
The Russian army is in the midst of an offensive in Ukraine, but this assault has been met with fierce Ukrainian resistance, so that Russia has suffered significant material and human losses even though Moscow has never revealed the details. scale.
Russia launched the call for spring 2022 in April, with the aim of sending 134,500 young people to the barracks, the authorities however ensuring that the conscripts would not be sent to the front.