Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order to increase the size of Russia's armed forces to nearly 2.04 million people, which was effective from the beginning of the following year.

According to the decree published on the Russian Government's legislative portal today, Russia will add 137,000 combat soldiers, but do not increase the civilian staff working in the armed forces.

With this decision, Russia's combat troops from January 1, 2023 will increase to 1.15 million.

The decree was signed at the tension between Russia and the West due to military campaigns in Ukraine.

The last time President Putin decided to increase the size of the Russian military was in November 2017, when the number of combat soldiers was set 1.01 million.

Russian President Putin attended the online meeting in Moscow on August 9.

Russia considers deaths in the military as a national secret and does not regularly update casualties in the war in Ukraine.

Western estimates said the actual figure could be 10 times, while Ukraine said that at least 45,000 Russian soldiers had died since Moscow opened a military campaign in Ukraine in late February.

Ukraine also did not regularly publish the information of the death of soldiers, but the Chief of Staff of the Ukrainian army earlier this week said that nearly 9,000 soldiers were killed for 6 months of war.

Putin's decree did not specify how the number of soldiers had to be achieved, but the directive of government agencies allocated the corresponding budget.

Many Russians feel bitter when the country is isolated for war, while others think that the war in Ukraine is necessary.

Many Russian commentators supported the military campaign in Ukraine bewildered, after the car bombing that killed Dugin's daughter Dugin.