Putin calls up his Dad’s army: Russia ‘will raise age limit of military personnel by 20 YEARS to 70’ as leader desperately looks for more troops to fight his war in Ukraine, says UK intelligence

Vladimir Putin is working to raise the age limit for army officers to 70 in a bid to boost Russia’s military power, according to British military intelligence.

If approved, the bill would be the Russian president’s latest move to expand his armed forces as Moscow’s armies continue to suffer heavy losses in Ukraine.

“Russia is proposing draft legislation to increase the age of contract military personnel, including those recruited before June 2023, to 65 years and 70 years for officers,” said a statement from the UK Ministry of Defense (MoD).

“This would substantially increase the current age limit of 51 for non-officers and likely extend the contract term.”

It is believed that Russia currently has around 1.3 million military personnel, twice as many as Ukraine’s 780,000, although not everyone is currently fighting Putin’s war.

While it is unclear exactly how many additional troops the age increase will have for the Russian military, the number could be significant: almost a third of Russia’s population of 146 million is 55 or older.

The Russian life expectancy for men was 64.2 years old and that was before the war started

However, the Defense Ministry says Putin’s plan is “unlikely” to increase the country’s military capacity because raising the age limit by its nature has a gradual and not immediate effect.

It would mean that, as the war continues, every day more aging Russian troops, who would otherwise have withdrawn from the army, will continue to fight, constantly increasing the army’s numbers.

The Defense Ministry statement further read: ‘the pre-war life expectancy for Russian men in 2021 was 64.2 years old (according to the World Data Site). This measure actually gives these service personnel lifelong contact.’

Many Russian soldiers fled during the war and refused to fight, causing the number of soldiers on the Russian side to decline, something that will help mitigate the age increase.

Ukraine is also taking advantage of the abolition of the age limit to increase military mobilization on its part.

The country is currently trying to pass a bill to lower the minimum age for citizens who can be mobilized from 27 to 25 years.

If the bill passes, it will make it more difficult for citizens to avoid being summoned.

In October, Ukraine, which currently has an age limit of 60 for staff and 65 for officers, wanted to increase the maximum age.

Their idea was to completely abolish the age restriction, freeing up a large number of older troops who wanted to fight for their country.

Older reservists called up during the partial mobilization are seen in 2022 at a departure ceremony in Sevastopol, Crimea, before going to the front line (archive photo)

The Defense Ministry says it is ‘unlikely’ that Russia’s military power will be increased

The potential increase is not the first time Putin has used age-demolition techniques to increase the size of his military.

In May 2022, just a few months after Russia’s initial invasion, the 40-year age limit for new recruits was abolished in an effort to increase numbers.

The Defense Ministry says raising the maximum age limit will “ease the need for additional mobilization.”

For Putin, it is a way to grow his army without having to employ civilians. This way the troops will be trained and ready to fight.

In the run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Moscow massed between 170,000 and 190,000 troops on the border.

However, after reaching the outskirts of Kiev, Russia suffered a series of embarrassing defeats, causing Putin’s armies to withdraw from the Ukrainian capital to the east of the besieged country.

Kiev then launched two lightning counter-offensives, pushing Russian forces back even further in both the north and south of the country, approximately to where the front lines are now.

Russia suffered devastating losses of both soldiers and equipment in the early months of the war, forcing Putin to mobilize reserves – something he had said at the start of his invasion that he would not do.

It has been two years since Russia invaded Ukraine, causing the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives

In October 2022, Russia mobilized its 300,000 reserves to assist in its war efforts.

Nine months later, in July 2023, Russia raised the maximum age limit for calling up reservists to 55 years, in a new attempt to increase the number of reservists.

Although exact figures on military casualties are unclear because both Russia and Ukraine gave little away, the New York Times estimated in August that about 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers had died in the conflict and 120,000 Russian soldiers.

Ukrainian estimates of Russian losses are much higher.