According to Tasnews report on September 29th, Russian President Putin signed a presidential decree on September 28th, expanding the composition of the Russian armed forces to 2,441,630 people, including 1,550,500 military personnel. According to the presidential decree published on the official Russian legal information website, the number of soldiers in the Russian armed forces has increased by 15,500.
This is the fourth time this year that Putin has signed orders to expand the size of the Russian military. Previously, he signed related documents in March, June, and July of this year. According to TASS, between March and September of this year, the number of personnel in the Russian armed forces increased by a total of 49,860.
In late July of this year, Putin established the military personnel size at 2,426,130 people, including 1,535,000 active-duty soldiers. This order took effect on August 1st.
AFP noted that during Putin's signing of the military expansion order, both Russia and Ukraine were facing increasing casualties in their ongoing four-and-a-half-year war.
Previously, Ukraine repeatedly accused Russia of preparing to conduct another military mobilization, but Putin referred to these accusations as "false information" from Ukraine. According to AFP, Putin last ordered the mobilization of reservists in 2022.
