President Putin has said that Russia must have smaller, more professional forces and, though he did not announce a move to regularisation, he appears to accept by implication that it is unavoidable. His trouble is how to get from here to there. At the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Union had half a million officers, perhaps as many effective servicemen of all ranks as it has today. Many of them hang on, with nothing to do. Others are on pension, but still a drain on the defence budget.
Regularisation is always an expensive exercise.
To fund it requires precisely the sort of capital surplus Russia does not have on hand. A clean sweep would make for renewed military enthusiasm. As things are, the Russian army remains stuck between memories of Red glory and current ineptitude. No doubt a way out will be found. Among all historically large European armies, Russia's has no record, as do the German and French, of illegality or disobedience.