The State Duma adopted a law on raising the draft age to 30 years

The deputies of the State Duma adopted in the second and third readings the law on raising the draft age to 30 years, it will come into force on January 1, 2024, transmits press service of the lower house of parliament.

Also during the meeting, the deputies rejected the amendment, according to which a transitional period is established. Thus, the draft age from 2024 will be from 18 to 30 years.

The State Duma explained that those liable for military service who turn 27 by the end of this year will not be called up next year, they will be in reserve.

Initially, the draft law on raising the draft age provided for a gradual increase in both the lower and upper limits – up to 21 years and 30 years, respectively. Amendments were made to the second reading, according to which it was decided not to raise the lower limit of the military age. Andrei Kartapolov, Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, explained this by saying that “a lot of guys want to go to serve at the age of 18.” At the same time, on July 24, he confirmedthat the increase in the upper limit will take place in stages, that is, until 2026, the age limit for conscription would increase by one year.

Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov, commenting on the decision to abandon the original idea to raise the draft age in stages, declaredthat in matters of changing the draft age, the starting point is the position of the Ministry of Defense. Previously, Russian President Vladimir Putin conceptually supported the idea of ​​gradually raising the draft age.

Kartapolov explained increase in the draft age by the demographic situation in the country. According to the head of the committee, 147,000 people were called up for the spring draft in 2023, and “in order for this figure to be sustainable and to have someone to select, we are expanding the appropriate boundaries for this.”

The draft law on raising the draft age was submitted to the State Duma on March 13, 2023. Its authors are Kartapolov, his first deputy Andrei Krasov and deputy Yuri Shvytkin. On first reading, the document was accepted June 14th. The explanatory note to the document said that raising the draft age would make it possible to receive a guaranteed secondary general, secondary vocational or higher education.

Additional amendments were made to the document for the second reading. In particular, the adopted law enshrines the right of the Ministry of Defense to conclude short-term contracts – for one year or less – with conscripts and reservists for service during an emergency or for participation in military operations outside of Russia, including to suppress international terrorist activities. The law specifies that a contract with conscripts can be concluded no earlier than a month before the end of conscription service.

At the same time, during the period of mobilization, wartime or martial law, the duration of the contract for conscripts and citizens who are not in the reserve is one year, with reservists a contract can be concluded for a period of less than a year, follows from the text of the law.

In addition, the document also provides for the creation of special state unitary enterprises (SUEs) in the regions during the period of mobilization or martial law. The purpose of such companies is to strengthen security and public order, they will have to assist law enforcement agencies and FSB officers in protecting the state border and suppressing the activities of groups of saboteurs. Employees of state enterprises will be armed with small arms. Amendments are being made to the law on the validity of permits in the field of arms trafficking and in the field of security activities.