Vladimir Putin is preparing for a "long war" after signing a decree for an extra 137,000 soldiers to bolster his forces in Ukraine, according to analysts.
The Russian despot's troops would then number 1.15million, 15 times the size of the British Army.
The bloody invasion of Moscow's former Soviet ally is entering its seventh month and shows no signs of coming to an end.
The Kremlin had previously tried to persuade volunteers, private military contractors and prisoners through amnesty agreements in an effort to swell its ranks.
Commanders are now offering £4,000 signing-up bonuses, while the upper age limit has been raised.
Former KGB intelligence officer Putin - who is widely reported to have seen his health decline in recent months - has always referred to the invasion as a “special operation” since beginning shell attacks in February.
Dara Massicot, senior policy researcher at US think tank Rand Corporation, told the Daily Telegraph: “An expansion like this is a move you make when strategic forecasts for the future inside the General Staff are gloomy, or you have a longer term conflict or project in mind."
Putin has not publicly pinpointed which areas of his army he plans to strengthen but analysts suggest he needs to replace around 75,000 frontline soldiers that have been killed or injured.
But because he refuses to identify the invasion as a war, many commanders say he cannot order the full mobilisation he needs.
Moscow had expected to capture Ukrainian capital Kyiv within three days, but an unexpectedly resilient defence, bolstered by modern NATO weapons and intel left the invaders bogged down.
They pulled out of the original plan to take the centre of the country, and shifted to the Donbas.
However, Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, said that the Kremlin’s plan was on track at a meeting in Uzbekistan of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
The quasi military-economy group is focused on Central Asia that is headed by Russia and China.
Analysts in the west claim the recruitment drive is focused on poorer border regions to avoid raising eyebrows in Russia's main power centres.
The Institute for the Study of War, an independent US-based think tank, said: “The Kremlin is likely attempting to shield Moscow City residents from the military recruitment campaign, which may lead to some social tensions."
The Russian people have been bombarded with propaganda glorifying Putin's invasion as some kind of rescue mission to rid alleged 'Nazism' from Ukraine, which he still considers under Moscow's umbrella.
