Russia is boosting the number of troops in its military for the second time in 15 months, citing the war in Ukraine and the expansion of the NATO defense alliance.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday ordered the military to increase the number of troops by nearly 170,000 to a total of 1.3 million as the Ukraine war grinds on after 21 months. Putin’s decree, which entered into force immediately, brings the overall number of Russian military personnel to 2.2 million, including 1.3 million troops.
The Russian defense ministry in a message posted on Telegram cited the war in Ukraine and NATO’s expansion — which was spurred by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine — as the reasons for the increase in army personnel. Finland joined the Western defense alliance this past spring, and Sweden said this week that Turkey has promised it will ratify Stockholm’s bid “within weeks.”
Ukraine took out a major Russia/China train route that is 6,000 kms into Russia.
It’s beyond stalemate now. No military asset is safe in Russia from here on out.
Further, at current casualty rates he only replaced maybe half a years worth of warm bodies.