This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
Russian parliament’s lower chamber, the State Duma, has approved a bill that would raise the upper age limit for military personnel serving in the Russian Army on a contractual basis.
According to the bill, which had all three readings approved on May 25, men up to age 65 will now be eligible to serve in the army. The new limit also applies to foreign nationals wishing to serve in the army as well.
Current law allows Russian men up to 40 years of age and foreigners up to 30 to serve in the army.
The bill’s authors, lawmakers Andrei Kartapolov and Andrei Krasov, said the raised limit would help attract new specialists with “required skills,” namely medical personnel and engineers.
The bill was approved amid Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, launched on February 24.
Russia has met fierce resistance from Ukrainian forces, with many Western intelligence officials saying Moscow expected a quick end to the fighting. Instead, they say, its troops have suffered thousands of casualties as the war got bogged down.
Russia has not recently revealed a death toll for the invasion. On March 25, it said 1,351 of its soldiers had been killed in the fighting.
