MOSCOW. June 24 (Interfax) - Sixty-seven percent of Russians do not support the idea to extend the draft age to 30 years, the Russian Public Opinion Study Center (VTsIOM) said after a nationwide poll of May 22-23.
Forty-four percent of the respondents said they strongly objected to the initiative. The majority of such respondents are supporters of the Liberal Democratic Party, 72%, United Russia members, 71%, people younger than 44-years-old, 70-73%, and residents of central regions, 71%.
Only 21% supported the proposal, including 8% wholeheartedly and 13% generally. Most of such respondents are supporters of the Communist Party, 31%, and Fair Russia, 31%, elderly citizens, 28%, and residents of Siberia, 25%, the Far East, 26%, and northwestern areas, 27%.
The number of women who found it difficult to answer the question was almost twice as many as the number of men, the center said.
Education and Science Minister Andrei Fursenko proposed extending the draft age to 30 year in Russia. "We must totally change the course of preparations for military service and our attitude toward the draft. The draft age may change. Young men may be drafted starting from the age of 20 rather than 18, and the cut off age may be set at 30 instead of 28," he said at a joint meeting of boards of the Prosecutor General's Office, the Defense Ministry, the Education and Science Ministry, and the Sport and Tourism Ministry in June.
So far, the draft age in Russia is from 18 to 27.
In the opinion of the minister, the changes are necessary "because an increasing number of college graduates are being drafted."
Deputy Chairman of the Russian General Staff Vasily Smirnov conveyed the General Staff's idea of increasing the draft age from 27 to 30 in late April. He said that the draft age would start from 18. It was also proposed to cut the number of higher educational establishments whose students had the right to delay being drafted.
General Staff Chief Nikolai Makarov said on May 7 that the General Staff was considering possible extension of the draft age but it did not have to be 30 years.