Commonwealth of Independent States

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Commonwealth of Independent States

Flag of the CIS

member state

associate member

Headquarters

Minsk, Belarus

Member states

11 member states
1 associate member

Working language

Russian

Executive Secretary

Vladimir Rushailo

Formation

December 21, 1991

Official website

http://cis.minsk.by

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) (Russian:

() - Sodruzhestvo Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv) is the
international organization, or alliance, consisting of 11 former Soviet Republics:
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia,
Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Turkmenistan discontinued permanent membership
as of August 26, 2005 and is now an associate member.
The creation of CIS signalled the dissolution of the Soviet Union and, according to
leaders of Russia, its purpose was to "allow a civilized divorce" between the Soviet
Republics. However, many observers perceive the CIS as a geopolitical tool, allowing
Russia to maintain its influence over the formerly Soviet republics. Since its formation,
the member-states of CIS have signed a large number of documents concerning
integration and cooperation on matters of economics, defense and foreign policy.
The CIS is not a confederation. Two of the Post-Soviet states in 1997 formed the Union
of Russia and Belarus, a loose confederal grouping at present which has the stated
intention of re-forming a USSR-like federation at some unspecified future date.

Contents
[hide]

1 Members
2 History
o 2.1 Foundation
o 2.2 CIS crisis
3 Role and organisation
o 3.1 CIS Governing Institutions
3.1.1 Statutory Bodies
3.1.2 Executive Bodies
3.1.3 Agencies for Economic Cooperation
3.1.4 Chartered Organizations
o 3.2 Election Observation Missions
4 Moves for further integration
o 4.1 CIS Collective Security Treaty
o 4.2 Russian language
o 4.3 Common economic space
5 See also
6 References

7 External links

[edit] Members

Current members:
o
Armenia (1991)
o
Azerbaijan (1993)
o
Belarus (1991)
o
Kazakhstan (1991)
o
Kyrgyzstan (1991)
o
Moldova (1991)
o
Russia (1991)
o
Tajikistan (1991)
o
Ukraine (1991)
o
Uzbekistan (1991)

Current members outside the Council of Defense Ministers

o
Georgia (1993; withdrew from the Council in February 2006)

Former members/Associate members:

o
Turkmenistan (1991; withdrew 2005, associate member since then)

[edit] History
[edit] Foundation
Initiating the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the autumn of 1991, the leaders of
Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine met on December 8 in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha Natural
Reserve, about 50 km (30 mi) north of Brest in Belarus, and signed an agreement
establishing the CIS. At the same time they announced that the new alliance would be
open to all republics of the former Soviet Union, as well as other nations sharing the
same goals.
Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev described this as an "illegal and dangerous"
constitutional coup, but it soon became clear that the development could not be stopped:
On December 21, 1991, the leaders of 11 of the 15 constituent republics of the Soviet
Union met in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan, and signed the charter, thus de facto ratifying the
initial CIS treaty. The Soviet government had already recognized the independence of
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania on September 6, 1991, and the three Baltic nations refused
to join the CIS. Georgia and Azerbaijan were initally reluctant to join the CIS but
eventually did so. The CIS charter stated that all the members were sovereign and
independent nations and thereby effectively abolished the Soviet Union.
The 11 original member states were Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Azerbaijan joined

the CIS in September 1993 [1] and Georgia joined in December though under somewhat
controversial circumstances, following the Georgian Civil War.

[edit] CIS crisis

Between 2003 and 2005, the leaderships of three CIS member states were overthrown in
a series of "colour revolutions": Eduard Shevardnadze in Georgia, Leonid Kuchma in
Ukraine, and, lastly, Askar Akayev in Kyrgyzstan. The new government in Ukraine has
taken an especially clear pro-Western stance, in contrast to their predecessors' close
relationship with the Kremlin. The new government of Georgia has likewise taken a proWestern and anti-Kremlin stance. Moldova also seems to be quietly drifting toward the
West, away from the CIS.
In that timeframe a number of statements have been made by member state officials,
casting doubt on the potential and continued worth of the CIS:

Moldova: On September 19, 2003, Vladimir Voronin, the president of Moldova,

expressed his disappointment at the Common Economic Space, set up between
Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Belarus, and claimed this decision would lead
to a "depreciation of CIS stock" and that it showed that "possible modernization
of the CIS has been abandoned for good" and "the lack of perspective of the CIS
has become evident".[2] However he has also more recently argued that it would be
a great mistake for Moldova to leave the "huge markets" of the CIS and that
Moldova can gain profit by remaining part of the CIS[3]

Georgia: In November 2004, the Defense Minister of Georgia, Giorgi Baramidze,

told reporters that he would not be attending the CIS Council of Defense
Ministers, and that the CIS is "yesterday's history", while Georgia's future was in
cooperation with NATO defense ministers.[4] In February 2006, Georgia officially
withdrew from the Council of Defense Ministers, with the statement that "Georgia
has taken a course to join NATO and it cannot be part of two military structures
simultaneously".[5][6] As tensions heighten with Russia due to the latter's ban on
several Georgian wine and mineral water brands, the Government of Georgia is
considering withdrawing from the CIS, a membership of which is largely
unpopular within Georgia. President Mikheil Saakashvili said on May 2, 2006
that the government would review whether the country was benefiting from being
a CIS member[7]

Belarus: One of the closest allies of Russia, the President of Belarus Alexander
Lukashenko, said during a summit with Vladimir Putin that "The CIS is
undergoing the most critical phase of its history" and is at risk of being dissolved
or losing all its significance to the member states.

Ukraine: On April 9, 2005, Minister of Economics of Ukraine said at a news

conference "there is no hope for CIS development" and that Ukrainian
government is considering halting its financial contributions to CIS bodies.[8]

Turkmenistan: In August 2005, Turkmenistan downgraded its CIS status to an

associate member.[9]

Russia: In March 2007, Igor Ivanov, the secretary of the Russian Security
Council, expressed his doubts concerning the usefulness of CIS, and emphasizing
that the EurAsEC became a more competent organization to unify the biggest
countries of the CIS. [10].

[edit] Role and organisation

The CIS is headquartered in Minsk, Belarus. The chairman of the CIS is known as the
Executive Secretary. All of the CIS's executive secretaries have been from Belarus or
Russia. The current executive secretary is former Russian interior minister, Vladimir
Rushailo.
From a historical point of view, the CIS could be viewed a successor entity to the Soviet
Union, in so far as one of its original intents was to provide a framework for the
disassembly of that state. However, the CIS is emphatically not a state unto itself, and is
more comparable to the European Community than to its "predecessor". However,
although the CIS has few supranational powers, it is more than a purely symbolic
organization, possessing coordinating powers in the realm of trade, finance, lawmaking,
and security. The most significant issue for the CIS is the establishment of a full-fledged
free trade zone / economic union between the member states, to have been launched in
2005. It has also promoted cooperation on democratisation and cross-border crime
prevention.
During the 1992 Olympic Games (in Albertville and Barcelona), athletes from the CIS
member states competed as the Unified Team for the last time. In other sports events in
that year, such as the European Championships in football, athletes took part as
representatives of the CIS. Since then, the member states have competed under their
national banners.

[edit] CIS Governing Institutions

Staff for Coordinating Military Cooperation. Established as the CIS Joint Armed
Forces High Command in March 1992 and then reorganised as the Coordinating
Staff in August 1993. Reduced quickly to a very weak body as national authorities
asserted their control over their own armed forces. May now have been wound up
after a CIS conference in Kazan in August 2005.[11]

[edit] Statutory Bodies

The affairs of CIS member states are governed by the following statutory bodies:

Council of the Heads of States

Council of the Heads of Governments

Council of Foreign Ministers

Council of Defense Ministers
Council of Border Troops Commanders
Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (IPA)

Established in March 1992 as a consultative institution, the first participants were

Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.
Between 1993 and 1996, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova also joined. Ukraine
joined in 1999.
IPA sessions are held twice a year in Saint Petersburg, and are composed of
parliamentary delegations of the member states. The IPA has nine permanent
commissions: on legal issues; on economy and finance; on social policy and
human rights; on ecology and natural resources; on defense and security issues;
on culture, science, education and information issues; on foreign policy affairs; on
state-building and local government; on control budget. [1]
Economic Court - Website

[edit] Executive Bodies

Economic Council
Council of the Member-State Permanent Representatives
Executive Committee - Website

[edit] Agencies for Economic Cooperation

The following list is not inclusive. As of April 2006, the total number of the CIS
agencies was about 70.
Interstate Statistical Committee - Website
Interstate Council for Standardization, Metrology and Certification - Website
Also known as the Euro Asian Council for Standardization, Metrology and
Certification (EASC). Recognized as a regional standards organization by ISO
Council Resolution 40/1995.
Interstate Council for Emergencies Caused by Natural Phenomena and
Industrial Activities
Interstate Ecological Council
Interstate Council for Hydrometeorology
Interstate Council for Geodesy, Cartography, Cadaster and Remote Earth
Probing
Interstate Council for Coordination of Scientific Information
Inter-Governmental Council for Cooperation in the Construction Industry
Electric Power Council - Website
Council for Cooperation in Health Care
Interstate Council for Anti-Trust Policies
Interstate Council for Industrial Safety - Website
Council of the Heads of Statistical Services

Anti-Terrorism Center
Council of the Interior Ministers

Note. In the CIS countries, the Interior Minister is the head of a national law
enforcement agency.
Council of the Heads of Security and Special Services
Joint Consultative Commission on Disarmament

[edit] Chartered Organizations

Interstate Bank - Website

MIR Interstate Television and Radio Broadcasting Company
Council of the Heads of the Chambers of Commerce
International Association of Exchanges - Website
Leasing Confederation - Website
International Consumer Cooperatives Council
International Union for Agricultural Production
International Academy of Wine Growing and Wine Making

[edit] Election Observation Missions

Main article: CIS election observation missions
Since 2002 the CIS has been sending observers to elections in member countries of the
CIS. Several of these observation missions have been extremely controversial, as their
findings have been that the elections are "free and fair" only when the pro-Kremlin or
ruling-party wins, and therefore has often been in contradiction with the findings of other
international organizations from Western liberal-democracies - such as the OSCE, the
Council of Europe, or the European Union - which normally label those same elections as
having many irregularities.
After the CIS observer mission disputed the final (repeat) round of the 2004 Ukrainian
presidential election which followed the Orange Revolution and brought into power the
former opposition, Ukraine suspended its membership in the CIS observer missions.

[edit] Moves for further integration

[edit] CIS Collective Security Treaty
Main article: Collective Security Treaty Organization
The CIS Collective Security Treaty (CST) was signed on May 15, 1992, by Armenia,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, in the city of Tashkent.
Azerbaijan likewise signed the treaty on September 24, 1993, Georgia on December 9,
1993 and Belarus on December 31, 1993. The treaty came into effect on April 20, 1994.

The treaty reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat
of force. Signatories would not be able to join other military alliances or other groups of
states, while an aggression against one signatory would be perceived as an aggression
against all.
The CST was set to last for a five-year period unless extended. On April 2, 1999, the
Presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, signed a
protocol renewing the treaty for another five year period however Azerbaijan, Georgia
and Uzbekistan refused to sign and withdrew from the treaty instead.
On October 7, 2002, the six members of the CST, signed a charter in Chiinu, expanding
it and renaming to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Nikolai
Bordyuzha was appointed secretary general of the new organization. On 23 June 2006,
Uzbekistan rejoined CSTO.[12]

[edit] Russian language

Russia has been urging for the Russian language to receive official status in all 12 of the
CIS member states. So far Russian is an official language in four of these states: Russia,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Russian is also considered an official language in
the separatist regions of Abkhazia and Transnistria, as well as the semi-autonomous
region of Gagauzia in Moldova.
Viktor Yanukovych, the Moscow-supported presidential candidate in the controversial
Ukrainian presidential election, 2004, declared his intention to make Russian an official
second language of Ukraine. However, Viktor Yushchenko, the winner, did not do so as
he was more closely aligned with the Ukrainian-speaking population.

[edit] Common economic space

There has been discussion about the creation of a "common economic space" between the
countries of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. Agreement in principle about the
creation of this space was announced after a meeting in the Moscow suburb of NovoOgarevo on February 23, 2003.
The Common Economic Space would involve a supranational commission on trade and
tariffs that would be based in Kiev, would initially be headed by a representative of
Kazakhstan, and would not be subordinate to the governments of the four nations. The
ultimate goal would be a regional organization that would be open for other countries to
join as well, and could eventually lead even to a single currency.[13]
On 22 May 2003 The Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian Parliament) voted 266 votes in
favour and 51 against the joint economic space. However, most believe that Viktor
Yushchenko's victory in the Ukrainian presidential election of 2004 was a significant
blow against the project: Yushchenko has shown renewed interest in Ukrainian

membership in the European Union, and such membership would be incompatible with
the envisioned common economic space.
With the revival of the Eurasian Economic Community in 2005 there is a possibility for
the "common economic space" agenda to be implemented in its framework with or
without the participation of Ukraine. This was confirmed in August 2006[14] - initially a
customs union will consist of Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan with the other EurAsEC
members joining later.

[edit] See also

Common Economic Space as part of the EU-Russia Common Spaces

GUAM
Post-Soviet states - organisations

[edit] References
1. ^ US State Department 1993 Country Reports on Economic Practice and Trade Reports:
Azerbaijan
2. ^ http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2003/09/220903.asp#278674
3. ^ http://eng.primenewsonline.com/?c=121&a=6783
4. ^ http://www.isn.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?ID=10230
5. ^ http://english.pravda.ru/news/world/03-02-2006/75406-georgia-0
6. ^ http://en.rian.ru/world/20060203/43324440.html
7. ^ International Relations and Security Network, Georgia considers withdrawing from
CIS, May 3, 2006.
8. ^ http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/28.html?id_issue=11267754
9. ^ http://www.cis.minsk.by/main.aspx?uid=6070
10. ^ Russia questions further existence of the CIS post-soviet organization InfoNIAC
11. ^ http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?
volume_id=407&issue_id=3235&article_id=2369279, accessed late October 2006
12. ^ Socor, Vladimir. "Uzbekistan Accedes to Collective Security Treaty Organization", The
Jamestown Foundation, June 27, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
13. ^ http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/2003/370301.shtml
14. ^ http://www.unian.net/eng/news/news-163819.html