Putin supports increasing maximum conscription age to 30, ‘as an idea’
Russian President Vladimir Putin has voiced support for the Defense Ministry’s proposal to increase maximum conscription age in Russia to 30, said the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov:
As an idea, this did get the support of the head of state, but its details and final form should be clarified with the Defense Ministry, as the original source of that idea.
At the final meeting of the ministry collegium in December 2022, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu proposed a stage-by-stage increase of conscription age from 18 to 21, as well as changing the maximal conscription age to 30.
On January 11, Andrey Kartapolov, chair of the State Duma Defense Committee, said that men up to age 30 will be drafted into the army starting with the spring draft, due to begin on April 30. A full transition to the new conscription age range of 21–30 may take up to three years, he said.
Last November, Mikhail Sheremet, State Duma deputy from the annexed Crimea, proposed increasing the term of mandatory service in the Russian army from one to two years. Dmitry Peskov then said that there was no discussion of changing the length of term service in the President’s Office. The Defense Ministry also assured the press that it wasn’t lobbying any amendments to the existing law on mandatory army service.