Russian President Putin signs new decree to boost troop numbers

Moscow [Russia]: Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed an executive order to increase the number of military personnel in the Russian Armed Forces by nearly 170,000, as reported by Russian news agency TASS.

It reported that as per the new decree signed by Putin, the total number of people serving in the Russian Armed Forces has been set at 2,209,130, including 1,320,000 servicemen.

Under the previous decree, which has been in force since January 1, 2023, this figure was 2,039,758 people, including 1,150,628 servicemen.
According to TASS, the Kremlin posted the document on its website on Friday and it comes into effect on the day of signing.

Earlier last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Russia’s withdrawal from the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), the Russian News Agency TASS reported.

According to Russian TASS, the treaty was signed on behalf of Russia on September 24, 1996 in New York and ratified by Russia on May 27, 2020.

Kremlin Spokesman said earlier that the withdrawal of ratification of the treaty equalises the situation in the field of nuclear testing for Moscow and Washington, which never ratified the document.

He also pointed out that the withdrawal of the CTBT ratification does not mean that Russia plans to conduct nuclear tests.

The document was supposed to become the main international legal instrument for stopping any kind of nuclear testing. To date, however, the treaty has not entered into force because it has not been ratified by 8 of the 44 states that have nuclear weapons or the potential to create them, Russian TASS reported.

According to the document published on the official legal portal, the adopted law was designed to restore parity in nuclear arms control commitments. It is specified that the document creates a legal basis for Russia to withdraw its instrument of ratification, but does not imply the country’s withdrawal from the CTBT.