Struggling in Ukraine, Russia paves way to sign up over-40s for army

[BeyondGeography]

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LONDON, May 20 (Reuters) - In a sign of Russia's urgent need to bolster its war effort in Ukraine, parliament said on Friday it would consider a bill to allow Russians over 40 and foreigners over 30 to sign up for the military.

The website of the State Duma, parliament's lower house, said the move would enable the military to utilise the skills of older professionals.

"For the use of high-precision weapons, the operation of weapons and military equipment, highly professional specialists are needed. Experience shows that they become such by the age of 40–45," it said.

…”Clearly, the Russians are in trouble. This is the latest attempt to address manpower shortages without alarming their own population. But it is growing increasingly difficult for the Kremlin to disguise their failures in Ukraine," said retired U.S. General Ben Hodges, a former commander of U.S. Army forces in Europe.

[secondwind]

1. What could go wrong?

“Foreigners over 30”. Smacks of desperation….

[Ray Bruns]

2. I am a veteran and 57 years old. Right now I would do more harm than good.

Russians must be desperate.

[lpbk2713]

3. More cannon fodder.

Putin doesn't care what happens to them. They don't even get any training.
They sign up and then they are sent right to the front lines. It's OJT after that.

Reuters dated April 04 ... Military conscripts in the Russian-backed Donbas region have been sent into front-line combat against Ukrainian troops with no training, little food and water, and inadequate weapons, six people in the separatist province told Reuters.

The new accounts of untrained and ill-equipped conscripts being deployed are a fresh indication of how stretched the military resources at the Kremlin's disposal are, over a month into a war that has seen Moscow's forces hobbled by logistical problems and held up by fierce Ukrainian resistance.

One of the people, a student conscripted in late February, said a fellow fighter told him to prepare to repel a close-quarter attack by Ukrainian forces in southwest Donbas but "I don't even know how to fire an automatic weapon."


Link: https://www.reuters.com/world/conscripts-sent-fight-by-pro-russia-donbas-get-little-training-old-rifles-poor-2022-04-04/

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[haele]

4. The average life expectancy for Russian men is, what? 65?

The average 40 year old Russian male is not going to be as physically able to qualify for the military as would the average European or American male of the same age. Poverty, depression, and alcoholism is a major contributor to early mortality in a significant number of older Russians.

On edit, this is something the losing side of wars do in a desperate, final push to save pride.

Haele

[DavidDvorkin]

5. The bill would "allow Russians over 40 and foreigners over 30 to sign up for the military"

I doubt if very many will. Will Putin then be forced to declare the invasion a war? Or will the law be changed to allow non-volunteers to be sent into combat without a declaration of war?