British intelligence analyzes Russia's plans to raise age of contract soldiers to 70

Approval of a bill to raise the age of contract soldiers in the Russian army to 70 years is unlikely to increase Russia's combat capability.

The British Ministry of Defense reported this on social networking site X, Ukrinform reported.

Russia is proposing draft legislation to raise the age of military contract personnel, including those that were recruited before June 2023, to age 65, and age 70 for officers. 

According to intelligence experts, this would substantially raise the current age limit of 51 for non-officers and would likely extend the contract length.

The pre-war 2021 life expectancy for Russian males was 64.2 according to the World Data website. Therefore, this measure confers on these service personnel, in effect, a lifetime contract.

Read also: Russia stepping up militarization of higher education - British intelligence

“Although this measure will likely alleviate the need for additional mobilisation, increasing the number of military personnel aged over 51 is highly unlikely to increase Russia's combat effectiveness, particularly in kinetic assaults”, the report says.

As reported, in a previous report, British intelligence noted that the opening of the Institute of World Military Economics and Strategy at the Moscow Higher School of Economics indicates closer cooperation between Russian academia and the defense sector.