Russian President to participate in CSTO summit in Yerevan

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Yerevan on Wednesday to participate in a session of the Collective Security Council, the main body of the Moscow-led bloc known as the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

The summit is expected to be attended by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov and Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon. The participation of Kazakh leader Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who won the November 20 early presidential election by a landslide, is now under question, since his inauguration ceremony is due on November 26.

The Kremlin press service earlier reported that the summit in Yerevan would focus on key cooperation areas within the organization, as well as on important international and regional problems.

Putin is expected to meet with Pashinyan on the sidelines of the event. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that the Russian leader "will have an opportunity" to meet with his Belarusian counterpart as well.

The summit will be preceded by foreign and defense ministerial meetings, as well as by a meeting of secretaries of national security councils from the CSTO member states.

Participants of those events are expected to discuss military and political situation in collective security areas, addressing also foreign policy, military and anti-terrorist cooperation within the CSTO and measures to boost the collective security system.