The Russian Ministry responded to President Vladimir Putin’s Dec. 1 decree increasing the size of the Russian military and said that the ministry is implementing the increase in stages “on account of citizens who express a desire to perform military service under a contract.” This language may refer to volunteers, whom the ministry has courted through a widespread crypto-mobilization effort in Russia, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in their latest update on Dec. 2. The ISW explained that the phrasing used by the ministry suggests that the Russian military may use volunteer recru…