DESPERATE tyrant Vladimir Putin has conscripted pensioners to fight in Ukraine after raising the maximum mobilisation age to 70.
The real-life dad’s army will see OAPs return to the army – even if they had already been discharged.
A change to Russia’s laws signed off by the nation’s rubber-stamp Parliament extends the age groups mad Vlad – who is himself 70 – can recall to active service.
The switch means retired reservists with top-level military experience can be drafted back into the army until they hit 70.
Senior generals will be forced to serve until 60, and junior officials can also be recalled until they turn 55 – ten years older than previous laws allowed.
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Hundreds of thousands of men of fighting age fled Russia in September after Putin ordered a mobilisation without warning.
And earlier this year Russia altered draft laws to combat 250,000 “missing” conscripts whose notices had been lost in the post – with conscription letters now delivered by email.
It comes as South Africa confirmed Putin would not attend next month’s BRICS summit in person due to his international arrest warrant.
South African police would have been obliged to arrest the warmongering dictator as he landed due to the country’s membership of the International Criminal Court.
Putin had been scheduled to jet to the African state for the international conference, but will now appear virtually after reaching a “mutual” agreement with conference organisers.
Russia previously said it took any effort to arrest Putin as a declaration of war.
At least 47,000 Russian troops are now believed to have been killed in Ukraine - although the Kremlin acknowledges only 6,000 deaths.
The invasion has left birth rates at their lowest since Putin took power 23 years ago, according to official statistics, sparking fresh fears of a demographic collapse as thousands of young men die on the frontlines.
Putin’s health chief Mikhail Murashko urged Russian women to have children rather than pursue prestigious careers that prevent them from parenting “a third or fourth child”.