Russia raises upper age limit for conscription to bolster soldier numbers

Russia is seeking to widen the pool of soldiers it can potentially draw on to fight in Ukraine.

The lower house of parliament on Tuesday approved a law raising the upper age limit for military conscripts from 27 to 30 years under rules that would come into effect in 2024 after being endorsed by the upper house and signed into law by president Vladimir Putin.

While Russia has said it won’t send conscripts to fight in Ukraine, they can be mobilised once they finish their draft. The changes would mean an extra 2.36 million potential conscripts will become liable for 12-month military service, according to Igor Yefremov, a researcher and specialist in demographics at the Gaidar Institute in Moscow.

The extra recruits could help Mr Putin to wage the conflict for longer and in theory bolster the army elsewhere. Russia has struggled to make progress after failing to capture the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early in the war and focusing its attention on the southeast of the country. Although a continuing Ukrainian counter-offensive has yet to achieve a major breakthrough, Ukraine’s US and European allies are ratcheting up weapons supplies.

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Russia last year mobilised 300,000 men to bolster the ranks of its armed forces in Ukraine, which Mr Putin invaded 17 months ago. While Russia put military losses at about 6,000 in the last figures it made public in September, the US and its European allies estimate tens of thousands of Russian soldiers have died in the fighting.

Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu at the end of last year first proposed raising the draft age to 30 while exempting 18-20 year-olds under a gradual shift taking effect from 2024-2026. Despite criticism from some senior Russian senators, the lower house of parliament decided to keep the draft from 18 years.

On Monday, Putin signed a law raising the age at which senior reserve officers can be sent to fight from 60 to 65. Russia is gradually increasing its pension age, which for men next year will be 63, meaning retirement-age reserve officers could potentially be recruited for the invasion.

The United States will provide up to $400 million (€362 million) in additional security assistance for Ukraine, the department of defence announced on Tuesday.

The new aid will include Hornet drones, air defence munitions, armoured vehicles and anti-armour weapons. It will be the first time that Hornet drones have been sent to Ukraine.

The package is funded using presidential drawdown authority, which authorises the president to transfer articles and services from US stocks without congressional approval during an emergency. The material will come from US excess inventory.

This is the 43rd security assistance package approved by the US for Ukraine. More than $43 billion in US military aid has been provided since Russia’s invasion in 2022.

The International Monetary Fund has estimated that Russia’s exit from a deal allowing Ukrainian exports via the Black Sea could drive global grain prices up by 10-15 per cent, but said it was continuing to assess the situation.

IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas told reporters the Black Sea grain deal had been “very instrumental” in ensuring ample supplies of grains could be shipped from Ukraine, easing price pressures on food. Its suspension would probably put upward pressure on prices, he said.

“We’re still assessing where we’re going to land, but you would be thinking that somewhere in the range of 10-15 per cent increase in prices of grains is a reasonable estimate,” he said.

Meanwhile, a Russian fighter jet flew dangerously close to a US MQ-9 Reaper over Syria, firing flares that damaged the drone during an encounter on July 23rd, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

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Air Force Central Command said the damaged drone was able to return safely to its base. In a statement, LieutGen Alex Grynkewich, head of the Air Force command, urged Russia’s forces in Syria “to put an immediate end to this reckless, unprovoked and unprofessional behaviour”.

The incident is the latest in a string of encounters between Russian jets and US drones in the region that have prompted US officials to warn about the risk of escalation and miscalculation.

The Russian embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Moscow blamed the US for the past episodes. – Reuters, Bloomberg