As the Russia-Ukraine war entered its fourth month in May, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law enabling people over 40 to enlist in the armed forces.
The move is expected to help Moscow to recruit more civilian experts for the war in Ukraine. The Russian army had previously set age limits for national and foreign army recruits. The limit for Russians was 18-40 years while the limit for foreigners was 18-30 years.
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The country is presenting the law as a way to bring in more technical specialists including more medics, engineers and communications experts who are likely to be recruited.
This week Russia’s parliament passed the law scrapping an upper age limit for people joining the Army.
“We need to strengthen our armed forces, to help the defence ministry. Our supreme commander-in-chief (Putin) is doing everything to make the army win and increase its effectiveness,” Russian lawmaker Vyacheslav Volodin told the lower house of parliament.
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According to Ukrainian and western military experts, Russia has suffered heavy losses of about 30,000 soldiers in the war. The last official Russian reports gave a total of 1,351 dead on March 25, the number has not been updated since.
President putin has avoided large-scale conscription for the war in Ukraine, however, however Russia’s defence ministry admitted in March that some conscripts were involved in the conflict adding that some had been taken prisoner by Ukrainian forces.
However, Russia’s defence ministry pointed out that it was not the country’s official policy to send conscripts into battle. Russia’s defence ministry said it will continue its “special military operation” until “objectives” are achieved in a sign the war in Ukraine is likely to continue.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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