A lawmaker in Russia who had been advocating for electronic draft notices and raising the draft age has died suddenly
On March 23, Yuri Shvytkin, deputy chairman of the State Duma’s Defense Committee, died suddenly at the age of 61, according to Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the lower house. The cause of death has not been disclosed. Shvytkin made his last comments last week and posted his final message on his Telegram channel on Tuesday morning.
This was reported by Russian propaganda media.
Shvytkin was a deputy of the seventh and eighth convocations from the United Russia party. He participated in the First Chechen War, headed the Krasnoyarsk OMON, and holds numerous state awards, including three Orders of Courage and the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland” of the 4th degree.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, Shvytkin co-authored a law raising the draft age from 27 to 30 and actively promoted electronic draft notices to “minimize the number of draft dodgers.”
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