Putin lifts conscription age limits on national guard as Russia struggles for more troops

Vladimir Putin has removed the upper age limits on Russian National Guard units operating in occupied Ukrainian territory, a move that could clear the way for more citizens to be recruited into the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. 

According to Newsweek's Isabel Van Brugen, Putin signed a decree on March 27th, Russia's National Guard Day, which stated that "age restrictions for [Russian] citizens in the Federal Service of the National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation serving in the affected regions have been lifted until January 1, 2026."

In a speech, Putin said Russia's national guard, more commonly referred to as Rosgvardiya, was important for "countering terrorism, extremism, and organized crime, guarding significant strategic facilities, maintaining law and order during mass events, and monitoring the arms trade."

"These are all complicated and highly responsible aspects of your work requiring high professionalism and a systemic approach, strict compliance with the law, and a constant commitment to achieving specific and tangible results in the interests of maintaining the security of our society and state and reliably protecting the rights and freedoms of citizens," Putin added.

Putin's new decree is another in a long series of steps the Russian President has taken to help stem the tide of troops leaving the war in Ukraine after doing their service.

In May 2022, Russia removed all age limits on conscription, and in January, a report alleged that Russian forces were returning injured troops to combat before they had properly recovered.

Citing information from Valentina Melnikova, the Executive Secretary of the Soldiers’ Mother’s Committee, Russian news outlet Agentstvo reported that some critically injured soldiers were being sent back to war regardless of their injuries. 

In some instances, soldiers who still had shell fragments in their bodies had been sent back to war while others who had been shot in the lungs were shipped back to Ukraine according to Agentstvo. 

“According to the Soldiers’ Mothers Committee,” Agentstvo journalists wrote, “two servicemen who were treated for two months after sustaining serious lung wounds were told by their commanders that they would not be sent to a medical commission, but to a combat zone.”

The Agentstvo report went on to state that “several servicemen who received shrapnel wounds to their extremities were treated the same way, and the shrapnel was not removed."

“Also, ulcer patients and those who had had heart attacks or strokes before the war were returned to Ukraine after treatment,” the report added. 

Valentina Melinikova wasn't the only person sounding the alarm about Russia’s treatment of its sick and injured soldiers. 

Prior to Agentstvo’s report, a member of the Presidential Human Rights Council spoke with a Russian news outlet about complaints from doctors in Moscow and Donetsk, angry that untreated patients were being sent back to war. 

"We learned about the situation in which fighters who received high-tech medical care with recommendations for rehabilitation and treatment were immediately sent to the front instead of rehabilitation,” Olga Demicheva told RIA Novosti. 

“As a result, the treatments that they have undergone are just a waste,” Demicheva continued, “and instead of healthy people, we can get people disabled.”

“Doctors ask me to deal with the situation when untreated patients were sent to the unit instead of rehabilitation. This shouldn't happen," Demicheva added. 

Since the start of the war, the Ukrainian Armed Forces claimed to have eliminated 116,950 Russian soldiers according to an official Tweet on January 17th. Even more, have been eliminated since then according to top UK defense officials who said in a recent report that Russia may have lost as many as 220,000 soldiers to date according to Fox News. 

While Ukrainian figures for Russian losses cannot be independently verified, other Western sources have agreed that Putin’s army has suffered a significant number of casualties.

General Mark Milley, Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently said "the Russians have well over 200,000 casualties," an astonishing number if true, and could explain why Putin has lifted the age limits for his country's National Guard.