Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Defense Viktor Bondarev spoke out against maintaining the lower limit of the military age of 18 years. He was supported by the head of the committee of the upper house of parliament on state building and constitutional legislation, Andrei Klishas.
“The lower limit of the draft age should be 21 years old, the upper one — 30 years old. At the same time, it is necessary to provide for the right to enter the military service from the age of 18 of their own free will — at the written request of the citizen himself to the military registration and enlistment office, ”Bondarev wrote in his Telegram channel.
In his opinion, citizens should be called up for military service at the age of 18 only in exceptional cases.
Senator Bondarev was supported by his colleague Andrei Klishas: “I fully agree with my colleague senator, Hero of Russia Viktor Bondarev. The general rule is 21 years old and 30 years old is the age of conscription,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.
At the end of 2022, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu proposed raising the lower limit of the age of conscription for military service from 18 to 21 years, and the upper limit from 27 to 30 years. In this form, the bill was approved by the deputies of the State Duma in the first reading. However, the day before, on July 21, the lower house of parliament proposed conscription from 18 to 30.