EU weighs smaller sanctions packages to dodge national vetoes
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Putin’s 27 July decree sets the total authorised strength of the Russian Armed Forces at 2,426,130 posts, including 1,535,000 military personnel. The remaining roughly 891,000 posts are civilian and other non-uniformed personnel - the sixth such increase since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, according to Russia’s official internet portal of legal information. It takes effect on 1 August.
The move is the third change to the army’s authorised strength in six months, following decrees in March and June, and comes despite recruitment rates that have fallen below battlefield losses even after Moscow sharply increased sign-up bonuses.
Of the new total, active service members will rise by 25,000 to 1,535,000, up from 1,510,000 under the previous decree – itself signed only a month earlier, raising the authorised ceiling to 2,399,130 for reasons the Kremlin did not specify. The new decree ties the increase to the creation of military construction units within the armed forces and takes effect on August 1.
Putin has expanded the army’s authorised size six times since the war began, having raised the target to 1.5mn men as recently as September 2024; the ceiling has grown steadily since. Kyiv Independent and other observers have called the repeated increases largely aspirational, noting Russia has struggled to recruit enough volunteers even as it has raised sign-up bonuses sharply in its poorer regions.
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