Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a decree to increase the number of Russian armed forces to 2,389,130 units, with military personnel raising to 1.5 million.
The new decree, published on the official website for legal information, will take effect from December 1, 2024.
Currently, the number of Russian armed forces is 2,209,130 units, including 1.32 million military personnel, according to the previous decree, signed by Putin in December 2023.
Meanwhile, the defense ministry reported on Monday that the Russian armed forces had liberated the settlements of Uspenovka and Borki in the Kursk Region. Additionally, the Russian armed forces repelled "five enemy counterattacks" from various directions in the region on the same day, according to the ministry.
Putin signs decree to enlarge Russian armed forces amid intensified conflict
Putin signs decree to enlarge Russian armed forces amid intensified conflict
President of the United States Joe Biden has extended for another year the Trading with the Enemy Act, a 1917 regulation under which the blockade of Cuba was imposed, Cuban media reported on Wednesday.
The continuation of the exercise of these authorities with respect to Cuba for one year, until September 14, 2025, is in the national interest of the United States, Biden said in the brief memorandum sent to the Treasury Department, published in the Federal Register.
The Trading with the Enemy Act, enacted under the administration of Woodrow Wilson who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921 during the period of World War I (1914 to 1918), empowers the government in power in Washington to restrict commercial activities with any nation that they consider an adversary.
Based on this legislation, on February 7, 1962, Democratic President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order 3447, which officially began an economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba that has survived 11 White House administrations.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said on Thursday that the blockade constitutes a massive, flagrant and systematic violation of the human rights of the Cuban people and the main obstacle to the country's development.
At current prices, the accumulated damages of the economic, commercial and financial blockade and trade embargo over the past six decades have amounted to the astronomical figure of 164.141 billion U.S. dollars, according to Rodriguez.
Since 1992, the United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly voted in favor of the resolution presented by Cuba to lift the blockade. Last year, the draft resolution was approved by 187 countries and opposed only by the United States and Israel, with Ukraine abstaining.
US extends blockade of Cuba for another year
