Putin orders 137,000-soldier expansion of Russian military

 

 Ingrid Burke Friedman | JURIST Features Editor

Michael Kofman, Director of Russian Studies at the CNA think tank, suggested the move could relate to draft size or mobilization plans, but warned that ultimately it is too early to predict the overarching aim with any certainty: “The order in my view does not necessarily presage a larger draft, or greater mobilization – it could, but it may be a way of accommodating the various current recruitment efforts to create additional volunteer battalions in the force, and build in room for force expansion … My general view is that this is a procedural raising of the ceiling cap. One can speculate on how they intend to fill it, or if they can fill it given the problems with recruitment and retention. But I’d take care settling on one specific explanation at this point,” he Tweeted.

Rob Lee, a PhD student at the King’s College London Department of War Studies and a former US Marine, suggested the decree may lack practical significance given various structural and political impediments at play. “The official [number] for servicemen in the Russian military was previously more than 1 million but the actual size was ~850k. There is no easy way for Russia to increase its size at this point, other than simply declaring LDNR [ed: the armed forces of Eastern Ukrainian breakaway regions, the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics], Wagner [ed: the Wagner Group — a feared Russian paramilitary organization], or volunteer units part of the Russian military,” he Tweeted. Noting logistical difficulties with drafting more soldiers to replace the number of officers and NCOs Russia has already lost in battle, Lee added: “Russia isn’t producing enough officers either. That is why I thought Russia would try to keep this war as short as possible, and why it was such a mistake for Putin to not walk away from the war in March with some reduced concessions.”

 source ;https://www.jurist.org/

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