The head of the State Duma Defense Committee, Andrei Kartapolov, said that the lower limit for conscription for military service will not be raised to 21. In other words, the age for conscription will now increase from 18 to 30. The amendment made in the second reading of the bill was supported by the commission.
“The main change is that the upper limit is 30 years. It was decided to leave the minimum age for military service at 18 because many men want to enlist at 18.”
– said.
The chairman of the commission also announced the new norms will come into effect from 2024 and will not affect the autumn draft 2023: “Those who turn 27 in 2023, even on December 31, will not be subject to the new law.”
In addition, the deputy noted that it does not make sense to increase the length of service in the army to two years.
Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov raised the question of amendments to the legislation on the draft era to the State Duma and the Ministry of Defense.
The draft originally proposed raising the minimum age for military service to 21, and in its first version it was suggested that men under the age of 21 should be allowed to serve in the Armed Forces if they wanted to. The authors of the amendments, including Kartapolov, declared that the lower limit should be raised for citizens to receive secondary, secondary vocational or higher education.
Kartapolov also said that the authorities plan to move away from “yesterday’s enlistment of schoolchildren” and “young youngsters” and to send more independent people who already have a profession into the army. In addition, according to the parliamentarian, this reduced the burden on the budget, as recruits would not need to be trained in new specialties.
“I never tire of emphasizing: this initiative aims at the qualitative, not quantitative, development of the army. “When the changes finally take effect, people who are more developed, more mature psychologically and physically, and have certain life experience, skills and competencies will join the ranks of the military,” he said.
The new age standards for conscription were proposed in December 2022 by the head of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Sergei Shoigu. According to him, these measures will strengthen the security of the Russian Federation due to the desire of the North Atlantic Alliance to create “military potential” near the Russian borders. President Vladimir Putin supported the idea.
Postponements for IT companies
In the meantime, the Ministry of Digital Transformation announced that within the scope of the autumn call for IT experts, the acceptance of military service deferral applications will start on July 24 and will continue until August 8.
“Between July 24 and August 8, employees of IT companies will be able to apply for military service deferral under the autumn draft,” the ministry said.
It was noted that the employer of the person obliged to do military service will see the application in his personal account on the portal. If the employee does not have a personal account or does not submit their data, the organization itself will be able to add him to the postponement list. By August 11, companies must check, approve and submit their employee data to the Ministry of Digital Development through Government Services. It should be noted that there can be more than one listing from an organization. The Ministry of Digital Transformation will also transfer the lists to the Ministry of National Defense until 31 August. The draft committee will decide on postponements from October 1 to December 31, the dates of the autumn call.
In addition, the Ministry of Digital Transformation reminded that the IT specialist must be between the ages of 18-27, work under an employment contract, have a normal working day, and have a higher education in a specialty in order to receive a deferment. listWork at an IT company for at least 11 months before the interview begins.