Putin Abolishes Upper Age Limit for Russian Military Recruitment... "Men Over 40 Also Eligible for Enlistment"

Vladimir Putin, President of Russia [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Russia has abolished the upper age limit for conscription candidates. This move is interpreted as a response to the increasing personnel losses in the Russian military due to the war in Ukraine.

According to BBC on the 28th (local time), Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill amending the military service law to this effect. Previously, the age limit for contract soldiers was 18 to 40 years for Russians and 18 to 30 years for foreigners, but this restriction has now been removed.

Russian officials expect that this measure will allow the Russian military to recruit more experts. BBC reported that the bill was introduced considering that highly skilled experts are needed to operate precision weapons and military equipment, and that such experts are typically between 40 and 45 years old.

Additionally, Russia anticipates that this will help attract civilian professionals in fields such as medical care and communications into the military.

Among the 900,000 regular Russian troops, about 400,000 are contract soldiers. The rest are conscripts serving mandatory one-year service.

The Ukrainian side claims that more than 30,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since Russia invaded the country on February 24. The UK's Defence Intelligence, part of the Ministry of Defence, estimated in a report released on the 23rd that Russian casualties are similar in scale to the official death toll of the Soviet-Afghan War (1979?1989), which was 14,453. Russia has not disclosed the scale of its losses since announcing 1,351 military deaths on March 25.