May 9, 2022, St. Petersburg, Russia: Soldiers of the Russian army on the palace Square. A solemn military parade in St. Petersburg to mark the 77th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. (Credit Image: © Maksim Konstantinov/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire

Six months after the invasion of Ukraine, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian army to be enlarged. As of 2023, the total army strength is expected to exceed two million people, according to a decree published on Thursday.

The number of military personnel alone – including both contract soldiers and conscripts – is to be increased by 137,000 to around 1.15 million. The remaining members of the military are so-called civilian personnel, i.e. administrative employees, for example.

The decree marks the first major change in the number of personnel in the Russian armed forces in five years. The statement did not give any reasons for the increase in troops.

This takes place against the background of the Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine. In view of the continuing losses on the Russian side, American members of the government speak in the “New York Times” of a sign of Russia’s increasing problems.

The Russian Ministry of Defense also recently stated that the speed of the “military action” had been slowed down. Earlier this month, the Russian president said his troops would “liberate eastern Ukraine step by step”. However, his supporters are increasingly demanding that the fighting escalate further.

Nevertheless, experts assume that Putin also wants to show with the order that the war will not end anytime soon. “That’s what you do when you’re making some sort of plan for a protracted conflict,” political scientist Dara Massicot told The Times.

How exactly the enlargement is to be carried out seems unclear to experts. Russia has been trying to recruit more volunteers for months. For example, the minimum age for the military was lowered and financial incentives were offered for joining the military.

But according to political scientists, the decree does not necessarily have to stand for a large-scale conscription. Rather, the Russia expert Michael Kofman sees it as a way of “taking into account the various current recruitment efforts”.