Facing Troop Shortage, Putin To Raise Russia’s Maximum Military Age To 70 From 51

Recent intelligence from the U.K. Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is considering increasing the maximum age for its military personnel to 70. The Kremlin has reportedly drafted legislation to raise the age limit for military contract personnel, which includes those recruited before June 2023, to 65 years for non-officers and 70 years for officers.

Released on Tuesday, the MoD’s update highlighted that this proposed change would significantly surpass the current age limit of 51 for non-officers. It is expected that the extension of the age limit would also lead to longer contract durations.

The MoD noted that the life expectancy for Russian males in 2021 was 64.2 years; therefore, raising the maximum age for military service would effectively impose a “lifetime contract” on service personnel.

While this measure may alleviate the need for additional mobilization, the MoD was skeptical about the impact on Russia’s combat effectiveness, particularly in kinetic assaults. An increase in the number of military personnel over the age of 51 is unlikely to enhance Russia’s combat capabilities, as per the MoD’s analysis.

Russia has already raised the upper age limit for compulsory military service from 27 to 30 and has implemented stricter measures to prevent draft evasion among young men.

According to a Defence Intelligence update in December, the average daily number of Russian troops injured or killed rose by nearly 300 per day in 2023 compared to the previous year. The U.K. assessed that if casualties continued at this rate, Russia would have suffered over half a million military personnel killed or wounded in its invasion of Ukraine by 2025.

In response to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron‘s office announced on Tuesday that he will urge allies to increase defense production to support Ukraine. Ahead of the second anniversary of the conflict, Kyiv faces ammunition shortages and uncertainty in regard to future US military aid, while Russian forces gain an advantage on the battlefield.

Russia has already lost over 300,000 soldiers in the war, according to military assessments.

Leaked military cables revealed that U.S. intelligence believes that Putin has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.