YEREVAN. May 25 (Interfax) - Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan did not go to Minsk for a meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
"The Armenian defense minister did not go to Minsk and is not participating in a meeting of the CSTO Council of Defense Ministers," Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Aram Torosyan told Interfax.
Earlier on Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the CSTO Council of Defense Minister will discuss "challenges and threats to military security in the collective security regions, steps to update the crisis response system within the organization and other issues of mutual interest."
The defense ministers of the CSTO member states, the CSTO secretary general and the CSTO Joint Staff chief are to take part at the meeting.
The CSTO consists of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.