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Putin conceptually supports idea to raise conscription age — spokesman

In December 2022, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu proposed to gradually increase the conscription age from 18 to 21 years, as well as to raise the upper limit to 30 years

MOSCOW, January 12. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has conceptually supported the idea of raising the conscription age, but details on the issue should be referred to the Defense Ministry, Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

"The reasoning should be provided by the Ministry of Defense, in this case it is exclusively the prerogative of the Defense Ministry. Conceptually, yes, this idea was supported by the head of state, but as for the details, the formalization of this idea, this information must and should be [found out] from the Defense Ministry as the primary source," the Kremlin spokesman said.

In December 2022, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu proposed to gradually increase the conscription age from 18 to 21 years, as well as to raise the upper limit to 30 years.

Andrey Kartapolov, head of the State Duma’s Defense Committee, later explained in an interview with Parlamentskaya Gazeta (Parliamentary Newspaper) that the age increase would be gradual and would take from one to three years. According to him, during the 2023 spring call-up, citizens aged up to 30 could be recruited.

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Russia's domestic policy

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