Moscow is planning to increase its armed forces due to the “proxy war” that the West is waging, as Russia's faltering invasion of Ukraine approaches eleven months.
Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu announced earlier Tuesday that President Vladimir Putin had made a decision to increase the strength of the Russian Armed Forces to 1.5 million servicemen.
“Conceptually, Putin agreed” with the suggestions that were announced by the country's defence ministry, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
The details of the military expansion are yet to be finalized, Peskov said.
Previous Russian mobilization efforts: In September, Russia conducted a partial mobilization of its citizens after suffering a series of major setbacks on the battlefields of Ukraine. Officials suspended the mobilization in November, citing that the draft’s target of recruiting 300,000 personnel had been met.
That same month, Putin signed into law to conscript citizens with unexpunged or outstanding convictions for murder, robbery, larceny, drug trafficking and other serious crimes under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation to be called up for military service to mobilize.
“This is due to the war that the countries of the collective West are waging," Peskov added.
"The proxy war includes both elements of indirect participation in hostilities, and elements of economy, financial, legal war,” he commented.
Diplomatic relations between the Kremlin and Western leaders are historically low, as allies of Kyiv including the US, the UK and the European Union, have leveled economic sanctions against Russia in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
CNN's Uliana Pavlova contributed to this post.