Putin orders fourth expansion of Russia’s armed forces this year

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree authorizing 15,500 additional positions in Russia’s armed forces, raising the authorized total to 2,441,630. The total includes 1,550,500 service members. The decree took effect on September 28, the day Putin signed it.It marks the fourth increase in the military’s authorized strength in seven months, following increases in March, June, and July. Together, the four increases added 52,500 positions, including 50,500 for service members.During the first four years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin raised the military’s authorized strength only three times.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.