KALUGA. Aug 11 (Interfax) - The Russian Ministry of Digital Development is drafting changes to a presidential decree which raise the age limit for deferment from military service to 30 for employees of accredited IT companies, following the increase in the conscription age, Minister Maksut Shadayev said.
"The Ministry of Digital Development is preparing a proposal in relation to the raised conscription age to adjust the decree [of the Russian president regarding measures to support the IT sector]," Shadayev told journalists at the Digital Revolution forum on Friday.
The decree contains a clause that exempts employees of IT firms from the military draft between the ages of 18 and 27, he recalled.
The changes to the decree are expected to be made before the next spring conscription campaign because the corresponding legal amendments are only effective from January 1, the minister said.
The amendments, which extend the conscription age to between 18 and 30, were signed by President Vladimir Putin on August 4.
It was reported that accredited IT companies had until August 11 to provide the Ministry of Digital Development with lists of their employees seeking deferment from the fall conscription campaign, which will be passed on to the Defense Ministry by August 31. Deferment was granted to IT specialists during both campaigns last year and in the spring this year.