Russia, seeking a bigger army, moves to raise top age for military service

MOSCOW - Russian lawmakers on Tuesday voted to raise the top age for military conscription, aiming to expand the pool of trained recruits who could potentially join the

battle in Ukraine.

The measure, if approved by the full Parliament, applies to the year of military service required of all Russian men.

Starting in 2024, those aged 18 to 30 would be required to serve; currently, it is 18 to 27.

The Bill also

prohibits men who have been conscripted from leaving the country,

an attempt to cut down on draft dodging.

The measure reflects the Kremlin’s desire to bolster the military without resorting to a general mobilisation, in which Russian men who have served in the military – up to 70 years old in the highest ranks – could be called up.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has carefully tried to avoid a larger mobilisation in order to maintain support for the war, but one is still possible in case other measures fail to deliver a sufficient force.

The legislation, along with a number of other measures Russian legislators have approved in 2023, makes clear the intent of the Kremlin to strengthen the military for what it has depicted as an existential conflict with the West.

Although Russian men are required to serve a year in the military, many find ways to avoid it, including on medical grounds, for education or by going abroad.

And in September, with the country at war, protesters took to the streets across Russia after the announcement of a “partial mobilisation” aimed at pressing 300,000 men into service. Many other men

fled the country.

For the most part, Russia has fended off Ukraine’s attempts to pierce its lines, but the fighting on Ukrainian soil has been slow and bloody.

The vote by the Lower House of Parliament on Tuesday to expand the pool of recruits is the latest sign that Mr Putin, facing heavy battlefield losses, is bracing himself for a long war.

While the Russian President has promised that conscripts serving for a year would not be sent to Ukraine, they are deployed in regions on its border and represent trained recruits who could be called upon to sign contracts and be sent to battle.

It was uncertain how long it will be before the effects of the new measures aimed at strengthening the military will begin to be seen.

“It is clear that not earlier than before the fall conscription campaign – that is, in effect, not earlier than winter,” said Mr Dmitri Kuznets, who analyses the war for Meduza, an independent Russian news website.

“This is a preparation for the planned expansion of the army in the future.”

The draft law still needs approval by the Upper House of Parliament, the Russian Federation Council, whose speaker already promised support. It then goes to be signed by Mr Putin.

When the conscription age plan was first announced by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu at the end of 2022, together with an effort to expand the Russian army to 1.5 million servicemen from around 1.15 million, it called for raising the age of conscription, and making the range 21 to 30. But last week, lawmakers made it 18 to 30.

Mr Andrei Kartapolov, a Russian lawmaker and the main backer of the draft law, told the Russian news agency Interfax that the change was made because the “demographic situation is serious” in Russia, which affects “the volume of the mobilisation resource” in the country.

Last week, Parliament also extended by five years the maximum age at which men can be part of a general mobilisation for the army, raising the age for the highest-ranking officers in the reserves to up to 70.

Earlier changes to the Russian legislation also made it more difficult for potential recruits to dodge general mobilisation or the mandatory draft.

The Russian Defence Ministry has also been moving aggressively to recruit new volunteers to fight in Ukraine.

On July 4, Mr Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and now a high-ranking security official, said that more than 185,000 recruits had joined the Russian army since the beginning of 2023.

Mr Kuznets, the war analyst, said it all appeared to be part of a larger strategy.

“I think that the increase in the draft contingent, the attempt to recruit tens of thousands of contract soldiers and the preparation for a new wave of mobilisation complement each other,” he said.

“This is an attempt to implement a plan for a protracted war of attrition, for which you need to replenish your resources faster than the enemy does.” NYTIMES