Surena Papikyan Will Not Attend CSTO Defense Ministers' Meeting

The Minister of Defense of Armenia, Surena Papikyan, will not travel to Minsk to participate in the meeting of defense ministers from the member countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

It was previously reported that the defense ministers of CSTO member states would discuss issues of coalition cooperation today. According to Aram Torosyan, the spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, Papikyan will participate in a government meeting instead.

In Papikyan's place, Artak Tonoyan, a representative of the Armenian Ministry of Defense at the organization's joint staff, has traveled to the capital of Belarus.

It is noteworthy that the meeting will also be attended by CSTO Secretary General Imangali Tasmagambetov and Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff Anatoly Sidorov. Participants will discuss military security challenges and threats in the regional collective security areas of CSTO member states, as well as issues regarding the improvement of crisis response systems.