About military service and military registration and registration offices
One of the main statements of Sergei Shoigu was the proposal to gradually increase the age of military service in the country.
“When enlisting in the Armed Forces, gradually increase the enlistment age of citizens from 18 to 21 and increase the limit to 30,” the Ministry of National Defense said. They are no longer called up for military service in Russia after reaching the age of 27.
In addition, Shoigu noted that the number of soldiers in the army should be increased in order to guarantee the solution of the tasks of ensuring the military security of the country.
“The strength of the Armed Forces needs to be increased to 1.5 million soldiers, including 695,000 contract soldiers,” the minister said.
The size of the Russian army was last increased by President Vladimir Putin in August 2022. Then, the total number increased to 2.04 million people, and the number of direct military personnel increased by 137 thousand people to 1.15 million.
The minister also spoke in favor of changing the procedure for entering military service. According to him, it is necessary to provide citizens with the opportunity to enter contracted service at any time from the first day of their enlistment. Another requirement of the head of the Ministry of National Defense was to complete the digital transformation of the military registration and recruitment offices as soon as possible.
About the structure of the RF Armed Forces
A whole block of statements of the Minister of Defense was connected with the restructuring of the Russian armed forces. First, Shoigu announced the creation of two new military districts – Moscow and Leningrad. These will be strategic, specialized regional units, the creation of which is a response to NATO enlargement.
“Given NATO’s desire to build military potential near Russia’s borders and expand the North Atlantic Alliance through Finland and Sweden, response measures are needed to create a suitable troop group in Russia’s northwest.” The head of the Ministry of Defense of Russia announced.
In addition, two additional air assault divisions will be created in the Air Force and five naval divisions based on existing brigades in the Navy’s coastal units. For the combat coordination of the new structural formations of the armed forces, the West-2023 exercises will be held next year.
In general, Shoigu called for improving the structure of the armed forces, increasing the responsibility of the main commands for the preparation and use of formations and formations. At the same time, he emphasized that the combat capabilities of the RF Armed Forces in 2022 have increased by more than 13 percent.
About the mobilization
Separately, Sergei Shoigu commented on the partial mobilization that took place in Russia from September 21 to November 1. He described it as both a serious test and a criterion for the maturity of the troops.
“It was necessary to increase the combat and numerical strength of our troops in order to stabilize the situation, protect new territories and conduct further offensive operations. A partial mobilization was carried out for these purposes. This has become a criterion for the maturity of Russian society, a serious test for the country and the Armed Forces.
Mobilization made it possible to increase the combat capabilities of the Russian army and intensify offensive operations.
According to the head of the Ministry of Defense, 300 thousand people were called from the reserve, another 830 thousand were released from partial mobilization – these are employees of defense industry enterprises and a number of socially significant areas. In addition, in less than a month and a half of the mobilization, 20,000 volunteers came to the military registration and recruitment offices.
About the special operation
Without giving specific figures, the defense minister said that the Ukrainian army suffered significant losses during the special operation conducted by Russia.
“The Ukrainian Armed Forces suffered significant losses. A significant part of the weapons and equipment at the beginning of the operation were destroyed,” he said.
However, these losses are compensated by supplies from the West. According to the minister, 27 countries have already spent $97 billion to compensate for losses in equipment and weapons in Kiev, which is much more than the property abandoned by the Americans in Afghanistan.
“A part of [оружия] It is in the hands of terrorists and is spreading all over the world. “It is not known who will have the weapons from Ukraine tomorrow,” he said.
He also noted that NATO staff, artillery and other experts assisting the Kyiv regime were in the special operations area. It also has more than 500 satellites.
“More than 500 US and NATO spacecraft operate in the interests of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, of which more than 70 are military, the rest are dual-use,” said the minister.
Despite pumping Ukraine with weapons, Russian troops quite successfully oppose the Ukrainian Armed Forces, destroying the logistics of such foreign supplies.
“Russian troops continue to destroy military targets, carry out highly targeted attacks on the military command and control system, the enterprises of the military-industrial complex and related facilities, including energy. “The supply chain of foreign weapons is being destroyed, Ukraine’s military potential is being crushed,” he said.
Shoigu particularly noted the work of military doctors in the NVO region, which has achieved record low patient mortality in the entire history of armed conflict. According to the Ministry of National Defense, this figure is 0.5 percent in military hospitals. The first responders are delivered to the medical units within 10 minutes, the wounded to the medical units within an hour, and the military hospitals within the first day after the injury.
In just over ten months of the special operation, more than 250,000 military personnel gained combat experience. 120 people were awarded the title of Hero of Russia, the total number of holders of state awards for determination and selflessness in the war exceeded 100 thousand people.