NATO country hikes military reservist age limit to 65

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Finland is aiming to expand its reserve force to nearly one-fifth of the population

Finland will raise the upper age limit for rank-and-file military reservists by 15 years, from 50 to 65, starting next year, the Defense Ministry has announced.

The Nordic nation, which shares a 1,340-km (830-mile) land border with Russia, abandoned its long-standing policy of military neutrality and joined NATO in April 2023, citing security concerns linked to the Ukraine conflict.

Since then, it has begun constructing a 200-km border fence equipped with barbed wire and surveillance systems and has hosted large-scale military exercises near the Russian border.

The age-limit change will give the Finnish armed forces and the Border Guard “more opportunities to assign skilled personnel to key duties in exceptional circumstances, regardless of military rank,” according to a press release published on Monday. Officers holding the rank of colonel or above are not subject to an upper age limit and will remain in the reserve as long as they are medically fit, it added.

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The reform will expand the size of Finland’s military reserve to roughly one million people by 2031, Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen said — equivalent to nearly 20% of the country’s 5.6 million population.

Finland’s move comes amid a broader wave of changes to military service across the EU, including Croatia’s decision to reintroduce conscription, Denmark’s expansion of mandatory service to include women, and France’s launch of a new voluntary national service program.

Some EU members of NATO, including Poland and the Baltic States, have claimed that Russia could attack them – accusations Moscow has repeatedly rejected.

During his annual end-of-year Q&A session in Moscow earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin again dismissed Western claims that Russia intends to attack Europe as “nonsense,” saying the allegations are driven by domestic political considerations and aimed at portraying Russia as an enemy.

READ MORE: No security guarantees for Ukraine – Finnish PM

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in an interview with Die Zeit on Monday that he didn’t believe that Moscow was aiming for a full-scale war against NATO.