Putin expands Russian troop numbers to 2.2 million
- 4 December, 05:16
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to increase the number of troops by 15% or 170,000 servicemen, bringing the total to 1,320,000 troops and about 2.2 million personnel.
Russia’s defence ministry’s statement posted on the Kremlin website said that the order did not imply
any “significant expansion of conscription”.
"The increase in the number of servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is being implemented in stages, based on citizens who express a desire to undergo military service under a contract," it added.
The ministry stressed that the expansion was in response to “the aggressive activities of the NATO bloc”. NATO has recently expanded to include Finland, which has a long border with Russia. Sweden has also applied to join.
It should be noted that this is not the first case of troop expansion in Russia. The first such expansion that was ordered in August 2022 put the military’s numbers at about 2 million personnel and about 1.15 million troops.
The talks over Ukraine’s accession to NATO are underway and are subject to Ukraine’s meeting certain conditions. Ukraine cannot join NATO while it is still at war with Russia.
