Commonwealth of Independent States

Successor body to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, initially formed as a new commonwealth of Slav republics on 8 December 1991 by the presidents of the Russian Federation, Belarus, and Ukraine. On 21 December, eight of the nine remaining non-Slav republics – Moldova, Tajikistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan – joined the CIS at a meeting held in Kazakhstan's former capital, Alma-Ata (now Almaty). Georgia joined in 1994. Turkmenistan assumed associate, rather than permanent, member status from August 2005. The CIS formally came into existence in January 1992 when President Gorbachev resigned and the Soviet government voted itself out of existence. It has no formal political institutions and its role is uncertain. The CIS headquarters are in Minsk, Belarus.

The main objectives in founding the CIS were to ensure that some measure of economic, financial, and monetary cooperation continued in order to avert a collapse in inter-republican trade; to coordinate price liberalization and market reform; to maintain some degree of coordination in foreign (and especially military) policy, transport, and communications; and to ensure recognition of borders and thus prevent inter-republican conflicts. CIS decisions are reached through regular summits of heads of state and the formation of ministerial committees, with, in theory, all CIS members being equals; however, some members have complained of Russian domination.