RUSSIAN PRESIDENT ORDER MILITARY TO INCREASE ITS NUMBER OF SOLDIERS AMID MOSCOW’S MILITARY ACTION IN UKRAINE

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian military to increase its number of soldiers by 137 thousand to a total of 1.15 million servicemen amid Moscow’s military action in Ukraine. Putin’s decree, which takes effect on January 1, did not specify whether the military will beef up its ranks by drafting a bigger number of conscripts, increasing the number of volunteer soldiers or using a combination of both. The decree issued on Thursday will boost the overall number of Russian military personnel to over two million, including over one million servicemen. The Kremlin has said that only volunteer contract soldiers take part in what it calls the “special military operation” in Ukraine.