Russia to establish 40 more army brigades by 2020

Russian Deputy Defence Minister Nikolai Pankov announced on 30 September that Russia plans to establish 40 new army brigades by 2020, according to an official military statement.

Pankov indicated new brigades will be raised without increasing the strength of the armed forces above their current authorisation of 1,000,000 men. The Russian ground forces currently have around 300,000 personnel.

He also hinted that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) may re-establish a couple more divisions disbanded after 2009.