President Putin orders troop increase, Russia jumps to world's top 2 in armed forces size

Recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to increase the number of troops in the country's armed forces.

Russia's armed forces will rank second in the world in terms of military size, after China. (Source: Anadolu)

Sputnik news agency reported that a decree published on the official website of legal information on September 16 stated: "Setting the number of Russian armed forces at 2,389,130 ​​people, including 1,500,000 servicemen."

According to the defense analysis portal Global Firepower, with the above decree, the Russian Federation Armed Forces (VS RF) will surpass India and the United States - 2 countries in the top 3 countries with the largest armed forces in the world, with 1.44 million and 1.32 million troops, respectively.

Accordingly, Russia's armed forces will rise to second place in the world and only behind the Chinese People's Liberation Army (2 million people) in terms of military size.

The decree will come into effect on December 1. Currently, the Russian armed forces number 2,209,130 ​​units, including 1.32 million servicemen, according to a decree signed by President Putin in December 2023.

The move is the third time President Putin has expanded troop numbers since launching a special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.

The decision comes as the VS RF continues to make advances in eastern Ukraine, while repelling Kiev's offensive from the Kursk region in central Russia.

Reuters news agency quoted the Chairman of the State Duma (lower house) Defense Committee Andrei Kartapolov as saying that the increase in the number of standing troops is part of a plan to reform the armed forces and gradually increase their size to match the current international situation and the behavior of "our former foreign partners".

Noting that Russia currently "needs to create new military structures and units to ensure security in the northwest bordering Finland", since the country has joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), according to Mr. Kartapolov, to do this, "we need to increase the number of troops".

In August 2022, six months after the conflict broke out in Ukraine, the number of servicemen in the VS RF increased to 1,150,628. In September of the same year, Russia called up about 300,000 reservists in a limited mobilization.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/tong-thong-putin-issued-order-to-increase-nga-quan-so-vot-len-top-2-the-gioi-ve-quy-mo-luc-luong-vu-trang-286604.html