MOSCOW. June 14 (Interfax) - The Russian State Duma at its meeting on Wednesday passed in the first reading a bill allowing for a possibility that a citizen with convictions or found fit for military service with restrictions may sign a contract to join the army.
This approach applies to the period of mobilization, martial law and wartime, the bill says.
Duma Defense Committee Chairman Andrei Kartapolov and his first deputy Andrei Krasov are the bill's co-authors.
Under the document, citizens found fit for military service with restrictions can serve under contract if they have no illnesses included in the Russian Defense Ministry's list.
According to the bill's explanatory note, "a considerable number of citizens who want to become contract servicemen with whom contracts cannot be signed have been found."
The Russian legislation currently envisages the possibility of calling up said category of citizens for military service under mobilization, with the exception of those who have committed sexual crimes, people convicted for terrorism, high treason, espionage, and other grave and especially grave crimes
Under the bill, the age limit for contract service in these periods for people with military ranks of senior officers to colonel-general and admiral is 70 years, and the age limit for people with other military ranks is 65 years.