Sept 16 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered the regular size of the Russian army to be increased by 180,000 troops to 1.5 million active servicemen in a move that would make it the second largest in the world after China's.
In a decree published on the Kremlin's website, Putin ordered the overall size of the armed forces to be increased to 2.38 million people, of which he said 1.5 million should be active servicemen.
According to data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a leading military think tank, such an increase would see Russia leapfrog the United States and India in terms of the number of active combat soldiers it has at its disposal and be second only to China in size. The IISS said Beijing has just over 2 million active duty service personnel.
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The Kremlin has said that no new mobilisation is planned for now, however, and that the idea is to continue to rely on volunteers signing up to fight in Ukraine.
Dara Massicot, an expert in the Russian military at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank, questioned whether Moscow was ready to foot the bill for the increase in active servicemen.
"There are ways to staff a standing 1.5 million force but the Kremlin will not like them if they are truly grappling with what that requires," Massicot wrote on X.
Inden årets udgang får Ukraine næste levering af danske F16-fly. Det oplyser forsvarsminister Troels Lund Poulsen (V) efter et besøg i Ukraine, skriver nyhedsbureauet Ritzau.
Were reports of conscripts and convicts armed only after being sent to their positions be part of the reason? I vaguely remember videos on it around the time of the assaults on Bahkmut and Vuledar.
Inden årets udgang får Ukraine næste levering af danske F16-fly. Det oplyser forsvarsminister Troels Lund Poulsen (V) efter et besøg i Ukraine, skriver nyhedsbureauet Ritzau.