Putin expands army

Kremlin speaks of “extremely hostile environment”

Russian soldiers march across Red Square during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow.(Bild: APA/AFP/POOL/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Russia is now expanding its armed forces to become the second largest army in the world. Moscow blames this on the growing threats on its borders.

"This is due to the number of threats that exist on the periphery of our borders," announced Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in a telephone conference with reporters on Tuesday. "It is caused by the extremely hostile environment on our western borders and instability on our eastern borders." This required appropriate measures, Peskov added.

On Monday, President Vladimir Putin ordered the regular size of the Russian army to be increased by 180,000 soldiers to 1.5 million active soldiers.

This would make it the second-largest army in the world after China's, which, according to data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), would be ahead of the USA and India in terms of the number of active combat soldiers. With regard to its neighbors, Russia recently criticized Finland's accession to NATO and accused Japan of growing militarization with the support of the USA.