Russia changes conscription terms to thwart draft-dodgers

THE Kremlin wants to change the age range of army conscripts to increase the number of combat soldiers to 1.5 million.

The age bracket for conscription will be moved from 17-27 to 21-30 in order to close a loophole used by students to avoid conscription, according to the British ministry of defence.

“Many 18 to 21-year-old men claim exemption from the draft due to being in higher education,” it said.

The Russian parliament introduced a Bill that covers the changes earlier this week and the MoD said it was “likely to be passed” by the start of next year.

Under Russian law, conscripts are banned from deploying overseas but by annexing Crimea in 2014, and Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia last year, Vladimir Putin, the president, can claim they are defending Russia.

Russia’s ministry of defence has said it wants to increase the size of combat personnel under its command to 1.5million from 1.15 million.

Mr Putin ordered the first mobilisation in Russia since the Second World War in September to shore up his front line, which was in danger of collapse. That move called up 325,000 men, many sent straight to fight in Ukraine without proper equipment or training.

Conscription is carried out twice a year in Russia, recruiting around 125,000 men for 12 months through each draft. But it is treated as a sort of finishing school. Conscripts are there to serve but not to be thrown into battle.

The Kremlin’s Wagner mercenary group has also switched to openly recruiting in 42 cities across Russia. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner chief, said he hoped to recruit an extra 30,000 fighters by May.