Russia is massively expanding the number of men eligible for conscription, raising the maximum age from 27 to 30 β as Putin ally warns, ‘this smells like a big war’
Russia is massively expanding the number of men eligible for conscription, raising the maximum age from 27 to 30 β as Putin ally warns, ‘this smells like a big war’
- Russia today raised conscription age to 30 as ‘major war looms with west’
Vladimir Putin’s parliament has today massively extended the age at which men can become conscripts to face the “great war looming against the West.”
The maximum age for mandatory military service was raised from 27 to 30, along with a warning that “general mobilization” could be imminent.
A plan to simultaneously raise the lower level of 18 has been brushed aside, widening the group vulnerable to conscription.
Strict new controls will also put an end to conscription evasion, with men once on a draft list not allowed to flee abroad, as many have done since the war.
Colonel General Andrey Kartapolov, MP and loyalist chairman of the parliamentary defense committee, told the legislature: βThis law is written for a great war, for general mobilization. And now this already smells like a big war.’
Colonel General Andrey Kartapolov, Member of Parliament and Loyalist Chairman of the Parliamentary Defense Committee
Kartapolov denounced MPs for wanting to exempt certain groups or make it easier to avoid conscription – as the children of many politicians do.
“We all keep looking for who to remove (mobilization), who to protect,” he said.
But he warned: “Later there will be no one to protectβ¦.”
He ridiculed MPs “who vote to maintain a comfortable life for conscription evaders” by allowing them to flee abroad.
It remains to be seen whether the Kremlin will face backlash from the families of those caught using the new rules due to take effect in January 2024.
Putin was rather hesitant about such changes in the conscription rules.
New laws will now also formalize the creation of militias, including by governors of regions close to Ukraine.
Until now, groups such as the Wagner Private Army have been illegal – although strongly supported by the Russian government.
Men in their sixties will be called up, as will foreigners.
Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulates officers of investigative agencies on their professional holiday at the Moscow Kremlin on July 25, 2023
The draft changes apply to compulsory military training, a long-standing feature of Russian life.
It is legally separate from the partial mobilization of military-age men that Putin also ordered to fight his war in Ukraine.
In theory, conscripts should not be sent abroad to fight.
However, Putin now defines invaded areas of Ukraine as part of Russia.