Russia28 September, 20262 min read
Putin Orders 15,500 Troops Added To Russian Army, Raising Authorized Strength To 2,441,630
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15,500 additional troops raise Russia's armed forces to 2,441,630. Active-duty personnel total 1,550,500 within the expanded force.
Putin boosts troop ceiling
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday ordering an increase of 15,500 troops in the Russian army, the fourth such order this year. The decree set the authorised personnel strength of the Russian armed forces at 2,441,630 units, including 1,550,500 military personnel.
The decree did not give a reason for the troop increase, and it came as both Russia and Ukraine suffer mounting casualties in the more than 4½-year Ukraine war. The decree also instructed the Russian government to allocate federal budget funds to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation to carry out the increase.
Numbers, timing, and prior decrees
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the decree on Monday and it raised the authorised total to 2,441,630, including 1,550,500 service members, according to Meduza.
Meduza said the decree took effect on September 28, the day Putin signed it, and it marked the fourth increase in the military’s authorized strength in seven months.
Meduza reported that the four increases added 52,500 positions, including 50,500 for service members, and it said Putin raised the military’s authorized strength only three times during the first four years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Kyiv Post said the new ceiling was 15,500 higher than the one set out in a decree that took effect on Aug. 1, which put the military at 2,426,130 personnel, including 1,535,000 troops.
War context and external pressure
The Guardian briefing said Putin ordered the increase to 1.55 million active servicemen, and it said the expansion would put the size of Russia’s armed forces at 2,441,630. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X that there were now more than 8,000 North Korean troops on Russian territory and preparations were under way to deploy another 10,000.
NATO’s top military commander Alexus Grynkewich told a committee of EU lawmakers that Russia’s sabotage campaign in Europe was failing to put countries off supporting Ukraine, and he said, "It isn’t working,". Jamaran reported that Putin, in a meeting with Rosatom’s chief executive Alexey Likhachev, said, "We are currently building nuclear units abroad more than anyone else in the world."