Russia presses ahead with plan to increase size of armed forces

MOSCOW

Russia’s defense minister and top military commanders met on Tuesday to outline ways to boost the size of the country’s armed forces.

In a meeting in Moscow, Sergey Shoygu told commanders to formulate plans to beef up the armed forces to 1.5 million combat personnel from 1.15 million.

This task demands “appropriate and competent decisions” at all levels of the military, he said.

He called for the creation of several new units in different parts of Russia, including “self-sufficient groups … on new territories of the Russian Federation.”

Shoygu also emphasized the need to strengthen the combat capabilities of the Russian navy, aerospace, and rocket forces.

Special attention should be paid to contractual recruitment, provision of weapons and equipment to new units, building training grounds and courses, and improving existing military academic institutions and creating new ones, he stressed.