MOSCOW, May 28 (RAPSI) - Russian legislators have proposed to allow all women aged between 18 and 27 to do military service, Izvestia daily wrote on Tuesday.

State Duma lawmakers have drafted amendments to the military service law and have sent their proposals to the Defense Ministry for review, the newspaper said.

The ministry is expected to respond by June 5, said Tatiana Moskalkova, deputy head of the Russia's State Duma Committee for CIS and member of the lawmakers' income declaration control commission, who sponsored the amendments.

According to current legislation, Russian men aged between 18 and 27 are subject to mandatory conscription unless they are retired servicemen. The lawmakers have proposed giving equal rights to women with a proviso that conscription for women should be voluntary.

Women could help resolve the Defense Ministry's staffing problems which arose after the failure of the contract service system, said Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, former Black Sea Fleet Commander.

The Defense Committee will consider Moskalkova's amendments after the ministry's feedback, he added. A source at the Defense Ministry's conscription department said on the whole they support the initiative.

At present, around 50,000 women are serving in the Russian army, 3,000 of them officers, and the others privates and sergeants serving under contract, Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told Izvestia.