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Size of Russian army increased due to threats to country — Kremlin

"This is triggered by an extremely hostile situation on western borders and instability on eastern borders," Dmitry Peskov pointed out

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov Sergey Bulkin/TASS

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov

© Sergey Bulkin/TASS

MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to increase the size of Russia’s Armed Forces by the large number of threats to the country and the West’s hostile attitude.

"This was triggered by the multitude of threats existing for our country along our borders. This is triggered by an extremely hostile situation on western borders and instability on eastern borders," the Kremlin official told journalists. According to him, the situation "required taking appropriate measures."

On Monday, Putin decreed to set the number of personnel in the armed forces at the level of 2,389,130 people, including 1,500,000 servicemen. In the previous decree on this matter, which the new document recognizes as invalid, this figure was 2,209,130 people, including 1,320,000 servicemen.

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