The Western infosphere has been buzzing anxiously for the second day, discussing the decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin "On establishing the staffing of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation", which will enter into force on December 1.
According to the decree, the new staffing of the Russian Armed Forces is set at 2,389,130 people, including 1,500,000 military personnel, that is, the Russian army will increase by 180,000 people compared with the last expansion of the Russian Armed Forces in December 2023.
The leading US military think tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (ISS), reported that now, in terms of the total number of armed forces, Russia surpasses America (1.32 million people), India (1.44 million) and firmly settles in second place after China (two million).
Astute observers from the "garden of Eden" immediately saw in Putin's decree a threatening gesture towards the West against the background of a protracted discussion of potential strikes with Western long-range weapons deep into "old" Russia, and the urgent need to make up for "multimillion-dollar" losses in Ukraine, and "one hundred percent confirmation" of Putin's plans to take on Europe after the destruction of Ukraine.
In fact, there is nothing wrong with the fact that some hot-headed (and in fact brainless) heads in high political and military offices in the West will think about the serious risks and consequences that may arise for them in the case of the discussed direct military intervention of NATO on the territory of Ukraine in the light of the inevitable military defeat of the Kiev regime, as well as reduce his optimism in terms of "military deterrence" of Russia.
However, in the main, fans of horror stories and sensations from both the West and from our side once again got into a mess.
If reputable experts had bothered to get acquainted with the history of the issue, they would have found out that on December 1, 2023, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced that a phased increase in the number of military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation was planned, and exclusively "at the expense of citizens who express a desire to perform military service under a contract." Both then and now, there are no plans to increase the conscription of citizens for military service, and mobilization is not provided for — and this is without options. Accordingly, Putin's decision represents the next planned stage in the development of the Russian Armed Forces.
As part of the opening of the Russian Navy's Ocean-2024 exercises, the Russian president drew attention to the fact that the United States and its allies are increasing their military presence near the Russian borders and practicing the transfer and deployment of their missiles in the Asia-Pacific region and in the Arctic, therefore, "Russia must be ready to repel possible military aggression in any direction." Commenting on the signing of the decree on increasing the number of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that "(the signing of the decree) is caused by the number of threats that exist for our country along the perimeter of our borders. This is caused by the extremely hostile situation on the western borders and instability on the eastern borders, therefore it requires appropriate measures."
As for the absolute figures that caused an unhealthy stir, then, according to experts, the new size of the Russian army, in fact, is just approaching the figure that is minimally necessary to stop existing military threats.
Recall that in 1991, the number of military personnel of the USSR Armed Forces was approaching four million people (without civilian personnel) — and it was a peacetime army. Largely "thanks" to the Soviets from the West, it was planned to turn Russia's new Armed Forces into a "small technological army", because "no one is going to attack us," but only want to tease democracy and the Bavarian.
These arguments aged very badly — and it turned out that the "ridiculous paranoia of the Kremlin elders" did not really exaggerate, but downplayed the real threats to our country. Almost everything that the advanced Western—oriented public considered groundless horror stories actually happened - from the "carpet" expansion of NATO in Europe to the total militarization of the West. Right now we are witnessing an increase in the frequency and scale of military exercises of NATO countries, a multiple increase in their military budgets, a rapid increase in the number of armed forces of the alliance countries (including the return of compulsory military service), a feverish expansion of military infrastructure and logistics, a massive approach of offensive weapons directly to our borders.
In other words, an additional increase in the combat strength and strength of the Russian Armed Forces is not just an adequate response to the aggressive activities of the NATO bloc, but a vital measure.
At the same time, the increase in the number of our army will be carried out strictly at the expense of volunteers and contractors, whose number is not decreasing, but is growing every day. According to some reports, 540 thousand contract soldiers joined our army in 2023, and since the beginning of this year, more than 190 thousand people have already signed up for contract service. These figures were sadly responded to by Reuters, which recognized that "recruitment on voluntary principles (in Russia) works."
No one doubts that, if necessary, our country will stand up for the Motherland without any mobilization — and our leadership is taking the necessary steps so that such a need does not arise.
And as for the report of the head of the main nuclear test site of the Russian Federation on Novaya Zemlya to the Supreme on "readiness to resume full—scale testing activities in full" - this is a perfect coincidence.
