“Russian President Vladimir Putin has again increased the size of the army, for the third time since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine. Now it will amount to 1.5 million military personnel, which is 180 thousand more than it was.”, — write: www.ukrinform.ua
The staff strength of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will now amount to 2,389,130 people, “including 1.5 million servicemen,” according to the decree. It enters into force on December 1.
It is noted that the President of the Russian Federation previously increased the size of the Russian army in December 2023, when the number of servicemen was 1.32 million people. Before the start of the full-scale invasion of Russia in 2022, the number of servicemen in the Russian Armed Forces barely exceeded 1 million people.
As reported, sources close to the Kremlin and the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed in mid-August that the Russian army does not have enough reinforcements amid losses that are the highest since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine. Such a situation may force the country’s leadership to announce a new wave of mobilization.