quotOne and a half million soldiersquot Russia reorganizes its armed

"One and a half million soldiers". Russia reorganizes its armed forces

there Russia reorganization of the armed forces. As the war rages on in Ukraine, with the current epicenter in the Soledar region, the Defense Minister states, Sergei Shoiguannounced that Vladimir Putin approved a reform plan for the entire Federation military system.

The increase in the number of soldiers

An essential point – but not the only one – of this reform is the increase in the number of soldiers. For the period between 2023 and 2026, the Moscow Armed Forces are counting on the number of personnel one and a half million. As the Russian news agency reports, this is a significant increase, but it is based on a process that is already underway. As of early 2022, Tass explains, the armed forces “consisted of approximately one million military personnel (excluding civilian personnel) and since early 2023 the personnel has increased to 1.15 million.” The increase to 1.5 million thus represents the final stage of a path that Putin embarked on last year and which signals the Kremlin’s will to do so Expand the number of soldiers also in function of the continuation of the war in Ukraine.

For Shoigu, this is part of a reorganization that also affects a priority element of defense: increasing the number of professional soldiers. Again, Tass recalls that the defense chief, one of Putin’s cronies and also seen by someone as a possible successor for him, had suggested increasing the number of Putins contract soldiers to 695,000 people. And that is an issue that should not be underestimated, also in terms of troop morale and trust in the command system.

Defense reorganization

As this is a reorganization that Moscow says is “large-scale,” this new arrangement also confirms the rebirth of military districts for the next three years Fly and Leningrad (previously announced) and the establishment of an army corps in Karelia, on the borders of Finland. Finally, Shoigu and Putin show that in addition to reorganizing the brigades and divisions of the various forces that make up Russia’s defense, they also want to get their hands on the Russian military-industrial system.

In fact, the defense secretary was referring to those logisticsto an adjustment of infrastructure strategic, supplies, resources to be allocated, the organization of bases and training camps. It is essentially a reformulation of the armed forces, in which the experience of the war in Ukraine and the deficits of the Russian armed forces inevitably also played a role.

Shoigu and the War in Ukraine

Is it perhaps no coincidence that these announcements come just as Shoigu was visiting Russian troops in Ukraine and the command center Vostok. According to information from the inspection, the Russian defense chief “heard a report from the group commander, Lieutenant General Rustam Muradov on the current situation and the actions of his troops and commanders in other sectors.” “You defend our fatherland, help those in need and do everything to bring victory closer,” he told the military.

But behind the propaganda is how Moscow manages to solve two fundamental problems: the organizational deficits of its armed forces – which is also confirmed by the clear dominance Mercenary Wagner on some war fronts – and at the tactical level to understand how to give the “shoulder” that analysts expect in the spring against the Kyiv forces. Reason why the Atlantic Block is standing intensify the training of Ukrainian recruits and the sending of increasingly sophisticated weapons to resume the counteroffensive or to prevent the defense from collapsing.

Following the appointment of Valeriy Gerasimov as head of operations, which began in February 2022, the message from Moscow is that the military sector is being given renewed attention, and in a key that is not only useful but also important reorganization. And it is clear that the invasion had a particularly profound impact on all the certainties of the Russian armed forces, based on a model that turned out to be very different in theory and practice.