Russia will strengthen its armed forces with a new draft law

Russia is poised to raise the age of men eligible for military service, a sign Moscow likely expects the war in Ukraine to drag on.

Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee Andrei Kartapolov this week introduced a bill that would shift the eligible age group for the bill, raising the age range from the current 18-27 to 21-30.

However, the bill provides for two transition years during which the minimum age will be gradually raised, meaning the new age bracket will not come into effect until 2025.

That means more men could be called into service for the next two years.

Critics of the new legislation have slammed the law as a ploy to increase the number of men eligible for military service and offset Russia’s losses in Ukraine, the Moscow Times reported.

This was announced by the British Ministry of Defense in his daily intelligence update that the bill is expected to be passed and come into effect in January.

The ministry noted that Russia has prevented conscripts from serving in its military operations in Ukraine, but estimates that at least hundreds were likely deployed as a result of administrative errors or through the signing of contracts.

A surge in conscripts could also help free up a number of career soldiers who could be stationed elsewhere and then fight in the war, the Defense Department said.

The bill comes just months after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu proposed increasing Russia’s military from 1.15 million to 1.5 million, a move backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Putin in September ordered a partial mobilization of at least 300,000 reservists to bolster Russian forces in Ukraine, although the decree sparked widespread protests in Russia and caused hundreds of thousands of fighting-age men to flee the country.

The Ukrainian battlefields were brutal for Russian soldiers.

Ukrainian forces claimed on Saturday that Russia has “liquidated” at least 164,200 troops since it began its invasion on February 24, 2022.

Western intelligence sources estimate that each side has suffered about 150,000 casualties, including deaths and injuries, since the war began.

According to Kiev, 1,090 Russian fighters were killed last Sunday alone.

With postal wires