The opening ceremony for a special exercise of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Cobalt-2024, led by the National Guard of Russia, was held in Siberia’s Novosibirsk Region on Wednesday, Paralel.Az reports citing TASS.

Interested ministries and agencies from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan took part in the ceremony.

During the drills, set to run through August 16, participants will exchange best practices and improve cooperation between units from special operations forces.

Armenia is not participating in the maneuvers this time either.

Note that Armenian media has been circulating reports about the army not taking part in these exercises since the beginning of August.