title: Putin, in decree, says Russia's armed forces are 1.9 million-strong
text: MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Thursday which said Russia s armed forces numbered just over 1.9 million people, including over 1 million military servicemen. The TASS news agency said the new decree replaced an older one from 2016 which had put the total number of personnel in the armed forces at around 1.8 million. 