Vladimir Putin is trying to raise the age limit for troops to 70 in a bid to increase numbers, UK military intelligence has reported.
If approved, the draft legislation could bolster Russian troops, who are continually dwindling in the ongoing war in Ukraine.
“Russia is proposing a draft legislation to raise the age of military contract personnel, including those that were recruited before June 2023, to age 65 and age 70 for officers,” a statement released by Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD) said today.
“This would substantially raise the current age limit of 51 for non-officers and would likely extend the contract length.”
Putin is looking to raise the age of recruitment to 70, in a bid to boost numbers
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Moscow is understood to have around 1.3 million military personnel, double that of Ukraine’s 780,000.
Over one-third of Russia’s population is over 55, so if approved, the plan could lead to a large increase in mobilised troops.
The MoD's statement continued: “The pre-war 2021 life expectancy for Russian males was 64.2 years old (according to the World Data Site). Therefore, this measure confers on these service personnel, in effect, a lifetime contact.”
US intelligence said last month that Russia’s heavy losses in the war have resulted in the relaxing of recruitment standards.
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In September 2022, the Russian President declared a partial mobilisation of reservists to help fight in Ukraine
Getty“The scale of losses has forced Russia to take extraordinary measures to sustain its ability to fight. Russia declared a partial mobilisation of 300,000 personnel in late 2022 and has relaxed standards to allow recruitment of convicts and older civilians,” the US assessment said.
Since February 2022, 315,000 troops and 2,200 tanks have been taken out of action.
Putin has not commented on the reported losses. It last issued its number of fatalities in September 2022, where the figure stood at 5,937.
Western and Ukrainian intelligence stated that they believed the number to be far higher than what Russia claimed it to be.
Russia has suffered the loss of hundreds of thousands of soldiers during the warReutersThe MoD says that increasing the maximum age limit will “alleviate the need for additional mobilisation”.
Speaking at his annual press conference in December, Putin said Russia currently has a total of 617,000 troops fighting in battle zones in Ukraine.
He said that “the flow is not diminishing”, stating that there was no need for further mobilisation of army reservists.
In September 2022, the Russian President declared a partial mobilisation of reservists to help fight in Ukraine.