The State Duma decided not to raise the bar of military age from 18 to 21

The State Duma Committee on Defense made it clear that they actually changed their minds about raising the draft age for citizens from 18 to 21. Earlier, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu proposed to do this in stages, as well as to raise the upper limit to 30 years. The State Duma in June 2023 even adopted the corresponding draft in the first reading. The State Duma explains the decision not to raise the lower bar (while simultaneously raising the upper bar to 30 years old) by the fact that “a lot of guys want to go to serve from the age of 18.” The initiative aroused bewilderment among the senators. “What Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke about and what Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin supported: the lower limit of the draft age should be 21 years, the upper limit 30 years,” urged colleagues the head of the Committee of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation on Defense Viktor Bondarev.

Andrei Kartapolov, head of the State Duma Committee on Defense, made a statement about the decision to maintain the minimum draft age at 18 years. The corresponding amendment, the parliamentarian said, was approved by the profile committee for the second reading. “A lot of guys want to go to serve at the age of 18,” Mr. Kartapolov specified, without explaining where he got such data from. Meanwhile, the deputy said that it was decided to leave the upper limit of military age at the level of 30 years, as it was planned earlier.

In December 2022, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu came up with the idea to change the age limits for conscripts. Then the minister proposed to gradually raise the lower bar of the age limit of conscripts from 18 to 21 years old, and the upper bar – from 27 to 30 years old. In June 2023, the State Duma adopted the relevant bill in the first reading. The document assumed that in 2024 citizens aged 19 to 30 years old would be drafted into the troops, in 2025 – from 20 to 30 years old, and in 2026 – from 21 to 30 years old. It is noteworthy that Mr. Kartapolov himself warmly supported this initiative in December 2022. “Instead of a jerk, who is called up immediately after school, they will call up a fairly adult person: he graduated from school, studied either at a secondary specialized educational institution and received a profession, or he has already worked, or he entered a university and decided to go to a military training center,” the deputy then said to the Vedomosti newspaper. The explanatory note to the bill also stated that raising the lower limit of the draft age to 21 would allow citizens to receive a guaranteed secondary general, secondary vocational or higher education. Mr. Kartapolov added that if the lower limit of conscription is increased by three years, then the “upper limit” is increased by the same period.

Now, from the words of the head of the Duma Committee on Defense, it follows that there will be no gradual increase in the draft age: if the amendments are adopted, the norm will come into force immediately. Mr. Kartapolov clarified that the new rules will come into effect already in the spring conscription in 2024.

Meanwhile, Viktor Bondarev, head of the Defense Committee of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, said on Friday evening that the amendment, which refers to maintaining the lower age limit of 18, was not received by the senators and was not discussed by the members of the committee. “In my opinion, what Russian Defense Minister Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu spoke about and what was supported by Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin should be consolidated: the lower limit of the draft age should be 21 years, the upper limit should be 30 years,” TASS quotes Mr. Bondarev. The commission will consider him fit for service. “If you do not touch the lower limit, then it is advisable to leave the upper one the same so as not to violate the proportions,” the senator added.

The press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, when asked about the Kremlin’s position on the draft age, only said that “there is a discussion” on the topic. He suggested addressing these issues to the State Duma and the RF Ministry of Defense, urging them to take into account the expert point of view of the military department. At the same time, in January 2023, the presidential press secretary reported that Vladimir Putin “conceptually supported” the idea of ​​a phased increase in the military age.

Dmitry Ulyanov, a partner at the Intellectual Capital law firm, believes that the original bill to increase the minimum age of conscription to 21 years and gradually introduce this norm “made common sense, this decision was quite reasonable and justified, taking into account the realities.” Mr. Ulyanov draws attention to the disregard for the requirements of federal law No. 212 on the basics of public control, which obliges “to conduct a public public discussion of socially significant issues and decisions of state authorities, to which this issue undoubtedly relates”: “As far as I know, there were no such public discussions of this topic in the public field and in the media, and this despite the fact that this issue was raised back in December 2022.” “From the point of view of normal legal technique, the “gaps” of the norm are first established, expert studies of this “gaps” are carried out, then public hearings are held before the introduction of a legislative initiative, or at least before its announcement. There is none of this here, but there are chaotic statements and, as a possible consequence, unverified initiatives that potentially, and then quite realistically, can violate the constitutional rights of citizens,” says Konstantin Dobrynin, senior partner at the Pen & Paper Bar Association.

Alexander Voronov