Russia Wants 500,000 Professional Soldiers By 2022

Russia prioritizes full manning of airborne, special forces, naval infantry and peacekeeping units. © RIA Novosti. Andrei Alexandrov

Russian Military To Recruit 500,000 Professional Soldiers By 2022 -- RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, December 10 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s military will have 500,000 soldiers serving on professional contracts within a decade, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday.

Half of the armed forces will be made up of professional service personnel by 2022 under plans to shift away from conscripts and more than double the number of contract soldiers from the present 220,000.

But Shoigu also acknowledged at an expanded meeting of the Defense Ministry Board that Russia’s armed forces are currently short of nearly one in five troops.

“At present, the Russian military has 82 percent of the required manpower,” Shoigu said.

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My Comment: This is going to be a hard sell. Many Russians are happy when their conscription is up .... and going back into the military by re-enlisting is usually not in the cards. On top of that .... demographics are changing .... the Russian population is falling and there is no sign that this will be reversed in the coming years.