Russian lawmakers have passed legislation changing the age categories for those called up for the military potentially meaning that older troops could be sent to fight in Ukraine.
With President Vladimir Putin's forces reportedly facing heavy losses in his invasion of Ukraine, Russia's parliament, the Duma, has this week passed a raft of measures to help with mobilization, including tougher fines for those who avoid the draft as well as extending upper age limits for reserves.
The State Duma said Tuesday it had adopted a law raising the maximum age by half a decade for those who had already completed military service.
Under amendments to legislation titled "on military duty and military service," citizens with the ranks that include "soldiers, sailors and sergeants" could be mobilized until the age of 40, 50, or 55 depending on the category.
A higher age limit has also been introduced for those in Russia's mobilized reserve who signed up for occasional military training and a stipend when their compulsory military service ends, according to Reuters.
The age for men with the highest ranks in the reserves can be called up "remains" at 70. For other senior ranks it has risen to up to 65, while for junior officers, it is now up until the age of 60. Meanwhile, general reservists can be brought back into service until the age of 55, 10 years older than previously.
At the other end of the scale, head of the State Duma Committee on Defense, Andrei Kartapolov, said that the lower limit of the military age of 18 for Russian men will remain the same, reversing a proposal by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to increase it to 21.
Shoigu's plans announced at the end of 2022 included changing the age of conscription from 18 to 27 years to 21 to 30 years.
But Kartapolov said that only the upper age would be changed to 30 "because a lot of guys want to go to serve at the age of 18," according to the Russian newspaper Kommersant.
Newsweek has emailed the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.
After Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens left the country to avoid service. A partial mobilization announced in September 2022, which was criticized for being botched, also added to the exodus.
Analysts say that Putin wants to avoid a full mobilization which would be unpopular in Russia, though the Duma approved legislation in April to start serving call-up papers online.
However, the Duma measures this week aimed to punish those who avoided the draft. Legislation amendments due to come into force by October 2023 will increase the fines for those who do not heed a call up without a valid reason to up to 50,000 rubles (about $550) more than 16 times the current fine of 3,000 rubles ($33), state news agency Interfax reported.
