Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the country’s military to increase its troop numbers by 180,000, bringing the total to 1.5 million active servicemen, making Russia’s army the second largest in the world after China. The decree will take effect on December 1, increasing the overall size of the armed forces to 2.38 million people. This increase would leave Russia with more active combat soldiers than the United States and India, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
This marks the third time Putin has expanded the army’s ranks since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia currently has nearly 700,000 troops involved in the conflict. After calling up 300,000 reservists and recruiting volunteer soldiers, the Kremlin is facing questions about whether it can sustain the increased number of active servicemen financially.
Experts suggest that Moscow may need to expand the draft size or allow more women to work in the military to meet the new goal, as sustaining a force of 1.5 million would require significant resources. There are concerns about the strain on the defense budget and potential challenges in recruitment and procurement.
Despite fears of repeat of mass desertions seen in 2022, Russia’s population is much larger than Ukraine’s, but they are sustaining heavy losses on the battlefield. The exact scale of the losses remains a state secret. The Kremlin’s reluctance to call up more reservists may be linked to the desire to avoid such mass departures, opting instead to rely on volunteer soldiers to fill the ranks.
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