Lauge Risom Koch 
President Vladimir Putin has formally restored Soviet-era military construction battalions as part of an expansion of Russia’s armed forces and a wider overhaul of the military construction sector.
Russia has formally restored Soviet-era military construction battalions to its armed forces, reversing a reform that abolished the units nearly 20 years ago as part of a broader expansion of the country’s military structure.
According to United24Media, citing The Moscow Times, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on July 27 increasing the authorized size of the armed forces and officially reinstating the construction battalions, known as “stroybaty.”
Military expansion
The decree raises the military’s authorized strength by 27,000 personnel, including 25,000 service members and 2,000 civilian staff.
According to United24Media, citing The Moscow Times, the return of the construction battalions is part of a wider overhaul of Russia’s military construction system announced by the Defense Ministry in 2025.
Defense Minister Andrei Belousov previously described the units as an “additional instrument” for constructing key military facilities needed by the armed forces.
Construction overhaul
According to The Moscow Times, Russian authorities have justified the reform by pointing to long-standing problems in the military construction sector.
The report noted that after Belousov took office, the Defense Ministry significantly expanded its legal claims against the Military Construction Company, one of its main contractors, with the value of lawsuits rising sharply between 2024 and 2026.
The Moscow Times also outlined the history of the construction battalions, which at their peak in the Soviet era employed as many as 200,000 personnel to build military housing, training grounds, warehouses and other defense infrastructure.
Return of the “stroybaty”
The battalions survived the collapse of the Soviet Union but were abolished during military reforms in 2006, when then-Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said they would be “liquidated as a class,” transferring much of their work to civilian contractors.
According to United24Media, citing The Moscow Times, the latest move continues a broader expansion of Russia’s security and military institutions since the start of the war in Ukraine. The report also noted that Putin recently approved another increase in the staffing of the Federal Protective Service, which is responsible for protecting the Russian president and other senior officials.
Sources: United24Media, The Moscow Times
