The State Duma Committee on Defense made it clear that they actually changed their minds about raising the draft age for citizens from 18 to 21. Earlier, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu proposed to do this in stages, as well as to raise the upper limit to 30 years. The State Duma in June 2023 even adopted the corresponding draft in the first reading. The State Duma explains the decision not to raise the lower bar (while simultaneously raising the upper bar to 30 years old) by the fact that “a lot of guys want to go to serve from the age of 18.” The initiative aroused bewilderment among the senators. “What Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke about and what Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin supported: the lower limit of the draft age should be 21 years, the upper limit 30 years,” urged colleagues the head of the Committee of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation on Defense Viktor Bondarev.