Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a loose association of nations that were formerly republics of the Soviet Union. The members are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Turkmenistan is an associate member. The headquarters are in Minsk, Belarus.
The Soviet Union consisted of 15 republics. In 1990, several republics declared independence. In August 1991, the Soviet Union began to break apart after an attempted coup. All the other republics except Russia declared independence during the coup or soon after. Russia proclaimed itself the Soviet Union’s successor. On Dec. 8, 1991, Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine announced the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and declared that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. On December 21, Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine were joined by eight additional republics— Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan —to formally constitute themselves as the CIS. The Soviet Union was formally dissolved December 25.
In 2005, Turkmenistan withdrew from its full status in the CIS and became an associate member. Georgia joined the CIS in 1993, but it entirely withdrew from the organization in 2009. Former republics Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania never joined.
The CIS was created for several reasons. The economies of the former republics were closely linked, and most members wanted to keep some of those economic ties. Each member also wanted to guarantee its own territory and sovereignty. The members also sought to reassure the rest of the world that the nuclear weapons of the former Soviet Union were under reliable control (see Arms control (History of arms control)). Basically, the CIS was intended to help the new countries continue to work together and thus make the breakup of the Soviet Union as peaceful as possible.
However, CIS members disputed various matters. The CIS originally aimed to have a single military for all its members but later abandoned that plan. Each member created its own armed forces. Russia and Ukraine disputed the ownership of the Black Sea fleet. They resolved the dispute in 1997. Many members rejected the idea of continuing to use the ruble—the former Soviet monetary unit—as their own official currency. Each CIS country created its own currency.
Experts believe many of the commonwealth’s problems result from a lack of clear purpose or structure. Russia, for example, seemed to see the CIS as permanent. Other members expressed fears that Russia might dominate the CIS and use it as a means to gain control over the former republics. Some members, such as Ukraine, viewed the CIS as a temporary association to help the former republics become truly independent.
