A meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) countries began in Almaty on Friday, May 31, TASS reports.

Armenia does not take part in the meeting.

Yuri Shuvalov, a representative of the Organization's secretariat, said earlier that Armenia would not take part in the Council meeting, but did not object to decisions being made in Almaty in a limited format.

Armenia has skipped multiple CSTO meetings over the past year.