Russia to expand military draft

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."

NATO's “combined armed forces are being built up near Russia's borders and additional air defense systems and strike weapons are being deployed," the Russian ministry said in its post. "The potential of NATO's tactical nuclear forces is being increased,” it added.

“Under the current conditions, an additional increase in the combat strength and size of the Armed Forces is an adequate response to the aggressive activities of the NATO bloc,” the ministry said.

It is the second time Russia has boosted its troop numbers since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The previous increase of 137,000 troops was ordered by Putin in August 2022.

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As of August 2023, western intelligence services conservatively estimate that Russia has suffered combined casualties (killed, wounded and taken prisoner) in excess of 300,000 men. The Russian government has not issued any updated casualty figures in more than a year and the numbers previously released were generally treated as not credible by independent journalists and academics, as well as western governments. Additionally, it is estimated that at least 900,000 people have fled Russia since the start of the war. A very large percentage of those are believed to be young men of military age. While no reliable poll has been conducted, informal surveys suggest that many, perhaps most of these migrants have little or no interest in ever returning to Russia.