The meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member countries has started in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Armenia, however, is not participating in this meeting.

As Yury Shuvalov, the spokesperson of the CSTO Secretariat, had told TASS earlier, Armenia will not attend the aforesaid council meeting, but will not be against the decisions to be made in a limited format in Almaty.

The event is being held within the framework of Kazakhstan's current chairmanship in the CSTO. Its participants will discuss the challenges and threats to military security in the CSTO collective security regions, as well as the development of the military component of this organization.