This law, approved by the Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament) at the end of October, is alongside another legislative initiative that the Russian leader also promulgated today, which permits the deployment of reservists to protect critical infrastructure and facilities.
Regarding the military draft, the new legislation authorizes recruitment offices to summon eligible young men for medical examinations and other procedures at any time of the year. Until now, the draft was conducted in two periods—between April 1 and July 15, and between October 1 and December 31—for a one-year service.
The authors of the law believe that the workload will be distributed more evenly across recruitment centers and that it will improve the quality of training. Recruitment orders will still be sent during the spring and autumn periods.
The armed forces are primarily staffed by contract soldiers, while mobilized civilians are called in to reinforce the contingent during wartime, although several reports indicate pressures for them to eventually sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense.
As for reservists, the new law provides for the creation of reservist units that either sign or already have a contract with the Ministry of Defense to ensure the defense of the country’s critical infrastructure. In March, the Russian president signed a decree calling up 160,000 Russians aged 18 to 30 to complete 12 months of mandatory military service.
Before this, on January 1, 2024, changes to the military recruitment system came into force, raising the maximum enlistment age from 27 to 30 years.
The initiative to raise the military service age was proposed in late 2022 by then-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, following the departure of hundreds of thousands of men from Russia after the partial mobilization in September of that year to bolster Russian troops in the invasion of Ukraine.
After more than three years, various international estimates indicate over one million casualties among Russian forces in the conflict in the neighboring country.
