Leader of the Russian Communist Party Gennady Zyuganov (C) gestures as he delivers a speech on stage during a rally of Russian Communists and army veterans to celebrate the 99th anniversary of the Red Army, established in 1918, in Moscow, on February 23, 2017. (AFP PHOTO)

MOSCOW, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to increase the country's armed forces by some 18,000 people to over 1.9 million starting in July, according to a release Wednesday from the government online portal of legal information.

"The manpower of the Russian Armed Forces should number 1,903,051 units, including 1,013,628 servicemen from July 1, 2017," the decree read.

The previous presidential decree on the subject, which was signed in June 2016, set the number of the armed forces at 1,885,371 units with 1 million servicemen.

Besides active-duty servicemen, the Russian Armed Forces also include civil officers.