Russian defence minister proposes raising conscription age, expanding military

Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, has called for his country’s military to be expanded from its current 1 million servicemen to 1.5 million amid the fighting in Ukraine, Qazet.az reports according to TheGuardian.

Speaking at an end-of-year conference with Russia’s military chiefs and President Vladimir Putin, he said the number should include 695,000 volunteer contract soldiers.

Shoigu also proposed raising the age range for mandatory Russian military service to cover Russian citizens aged 21-30.

Under the current law, Russians aged between 18-27 can be called up for mandatory military service – though Shoigu and Putin have repeatedly said that such conscripts are not being sent to fight in Ukraine.