Putin orders Russian army to become second-largest after China’s at 1.5 million-strong

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the regular size of the Russian army to be increased by 180,000 troops. The move, announced on September 16, 2024, would make the nation’s standing army the world’s second-largest after China’s. In a decree published on the Kremlin’s website, Putin ordered the overall size of the armed forces to be raised to nearly 2.4 million people, of which he said 1.5 million would be active service personnel.