Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree increasing the authorized strength of the country’s Armed Forces. Effective August 1, the military’s total authorized personnel will rise to 2,426,130, including 1,535,000 service members.
The new decree raises the overall authorized staffing level by 27,000 positions compared with the previous order, including an increase of 25,000 military personnel. According to the document, the expansion is linked to the creation of military construction units within the Armed Forces.
The decree does not amount to a new round of conscription or the announcement of additional mobilization. Instead, it increases the maximum authorized size of the military. The document does not specify how the newly created positions will be filled or whether they will be staffed by contract soldiers, conscripts or other categories of military personnel.
The order was published ahead of Russia’s autumn conscription campaign, which begins on October 1. No changes to conscription quotas have so far been announced for the republics of the North Caucasus.
As a result, the decree itself does not indicate that the scale of the upcoming draft will be revised, although whether conscription targets could be adjusted remains an open question.
The expansion of Russia’s Armed Forces comes as military authorities report that the spring conscription campaign in the North Caucasus Federal District met its recruitment targets in full.
Military officials have previously said that restrictions on conscription from several republics in the North Caucasus—particularly Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia—were introduced for internal security reasons and to reduce the risk of interethnic tensions within military units.
In a departure from previous practice, regional authorities and military commissariats in the North Caucasus released detailed recruitment figures following the latest spring draft.
Dagestan once again contributed the largest number of conscripts in the North Caucasus Federal District, exceeding its recruitment target. While officials had planned to induct “more than 3,000” recruits, approximately 3,200 were ultimately called up for military service.
North Ossetia’s military commissariat reported sending around 800 conscripts to regular army units. Kabardino-Balkaria fulfilled its recruitment target of 750 conscripts, while Karachay-Cherkessia dispatched approximately 650 recruits.
The smallest recruitment quotas, despite full completion of the draft plan, were assigned to Chechnya and Ingushetia. Chechnya sent 700 conscripts into military service, with authorities expanding the geographical distribution of recruits beyond the Southern Military District. Ingushetia, meanwhile, inducted 230 conscripts.
Putin’s latest decree marks another step in the gradual expansion of Russia’s military. Since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, the authorized number of military personnel has increased by more than 500,000—from approximately 1.01 million in mid-2022 to the current 1.535 million.
