Putin increases personnel of Russian Armed Forces

Russian President Vladimir Putin has increased the number of personnel in the Russian Armed Forces. The corresponding decree was published on the official Internet portal of legal information.

Photo: минобороны.рф by Евгений Половодов, CC BY 4.0

The number of personnel in the Russian army has thus been increased to 2 million 389 thousand people, including 1.5 million military personnel. The decree of the head of state comes into force on December 1, 2024.

Putin also instructed the Russian government to provide for the allocation of funds for the Ministry of Defense from the federal budget for the implementation of the decree.

The president previously increased the strength of the Russian Armed Forces in December 2023. Then the number of military personnel increased by almost 170,000 people and was set at 2,209,130 ​​people, including 1,320,000 military personnel. As explained by the Russian Ministry of Defense, the increase in the number of military personnel of the Armed Forces is being implemented in stages owing to those citizens who express a desire to serve under a contract.

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The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. It is organized into three service branches—the Ground Forces, Navy, and Aerospace Forces—two independent combat arms (the Strategic Rocket Forces and Airborne Forces), and the Special Operations Forces Command. The Russian Armed Forces are the world's fifth largest military force, with 1.15 million active-duty personnel and close to two million reservists. According to the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), "Russia plans to expand its active personnel force to 1.5 million by 2026, which will make it the third largest in the world, after China and India." The Russian Armed Forces maintain the world's largest stockpile of nuclear weapons. possess the world's second-largest fleet of ballistic missile submarines, and are one of only three national militaries (alongside those of the United States and China) that operate strategic bombers. With certain exceptions, Russian law mandates one year of military service for all male citizens aged 18–27. In 2023, Russia had the world's third-highest military expenditure, at approximately US$86.4 billion to US$109 billion, or close to six percent of GDP.