The number of people in Russia's Armed Forces has decreased by almost 300 to just over 1.9 million men and women, according to a decree published Monday on the government’s legal portal.
The country's Armed Forces include ground troops, the Navy and Aerospace Forces. A decree signed by Putin in November which went into force on Jan. 1, puts the total number of servicemen and women at 1,902,758.
That constitutes a drop of 293 people compared to the 1,903,051 stipulated in an earlier decree, state-run news agency TASS reports.
Some 40 percent of those employed by the Defense Ministry have noncombat roles, including cooks, drivers and medical personnel.
