Putin has increased the size of the Russian army for the fourth time this year

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin issued a decree increasing the size of the Russian Federation’s army by 15,500 troops—effectively one full division. This is already the fourth such increase since the beginning of the year, whereas in previous years of the war, Putin expanded the army’s strength only three times.

According to the decree, the Russian Armed Forces will now number 2,441,630 personnel, of whom 1,550,500 are military personnel, with the remainder being civilian employees.

Earlier this year, the army’s strength was increased at the end of July—by 25,000 military personnel and 2,000 civilian employees—to create military construction units. In mid-June, the force was expanded by 7,700 personnel, and in March—by 2,000. By 2026, similar decisions had been made only three times during the war: in September 2024 by 180,000 people, in December 2023 by 169,400, and in August 2022 by 137,000.

Experts from the Conflict Intelligence Team attribute these regular changes to the creation of new units and the emergence of vacancies. The latest decree came amid discussions about a possible mobilization in Russia and a potential escalation of the military threat to European countries, although the Kremlin denies such plans.

Source: “Agency.”

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that he sees signs of Russia preparing for a new wave of mobilization and does not rule out an escalation of Moscow’s aggressive actions against European countries. 

Following reports of a possible new wave of mobilization, Russians began to search more actively for real estate abroad. Thailand has become one of the most popular destinations. Between January and August 2026, Russian citizens purchased 1,050 properties there for a total of $123.5 million, or 10.4 billion rubles. The number of transactions was 38% higher than during the same period last year.