The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS; Russian: Содружество Независимых Государств, СНГ, tr. Sodruzhestvo Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv, SNG), also sometimes called the Russian Commonwealth in order to distinguish it from the Commonwealth of Nations,[3] is a regional intergovernmental organization of 10 post-Soviet republics in Eurasia formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It has an area of 20,368,759 km² (8,097,484 sq mi) and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. The CIS encourages cooperation over economical, political and military aspects and has certain powers possessing coordinating in trade, finance, lawmaking and security. It has also promoted cooperation on cross-border crime prevention.
The CIS has its origins in the Soviet Union (USSR), which was established by the 1922 Treaty and Declaration of the Creation of the USSR by the Russian SFSR, Byelorussian SSR and Ukrainian SSR. When the USSR began to fall in 1991, the founding republics signed the Belavezha Accords on 8 December 1991, declaring the Soviet Union would cease to exist and proclaimed the CIS in its place. A few days later the Alma-Ata Protocol was signed, which declared that Soviet Union was dissolved and that the Russian Federation was to be its successor state. The Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), which regard their membership in the Soviet Union as an illegal occupation, chose not to participate. Georgia withdrew its membership in 2008. Ukraine, which participated as an associate member, ended its participation in CIS statutory bodies on 19 May 2018.[3]
Eight of the nine CIS member states participate in the CIS Free Trade Area. Three organizations are under the overview of the CIS, namely the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Eurasian Economic Union (alongside subdivisions, the Eurasian Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Space, which comprises territory inhabited by over 180 million people); and the Union State. While the first and the second are military and economic alliances, the third aims to reach a supranational union of Russia and Belarus with a common government, flag, currency and so on.
Contents
1History
1.1Background
1.2Belavezha Accords and Alma-Ata Protocol (1991–1993)
1.3CIS Charter (1993 to present)
2Membership
2.1Member states
2.2Parties of the Creation Agreement
2.3Former member state
3Politics
3.1Executive Secretaries
3.2Interparliamentary Assembly
4Human rights
5Military
6Economy
6.1Common Economic Space
6.2Economic data
7Associated organisations
7.1Organisation of Central Asian Cooperation
7.2Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations
8Other activities
8.1Controversial election observation body
8.2Russian language status
8.3Sports events
9See also
10Notes
11References
11.1Journals
12External links
History
Background
In March 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev, the president of the Soviet Union, proposed a federation by holding a referendum to preserve the Union as the Union of Sovereign States. The new treaty signing never happened as the Communist Party hardliners staged an attempted coup in August that year.
Belavezha Accords and Alma-Ata Protocol (1991–1993)
Provisional flag of the CIS (1991–1992)
Signing of the agreement to establish the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), 8 December 1991
Following the events of August failed coup, the republics[which?] had declared their independence fearing another coup. A week after the Ukrainian independence referendum was held, which kept the chances of the Soviet Union staying together low, the Commonwealth of Independent States was founded in it place on 8 December 1991 by the Byelorussia SSR, the Russian SFSR, and the Ukraine SSR, when the leaders of the three republics, met in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha Natural Reserve, about 50 km (31 mi) north of Brest in Belarus and signed the "Agreement Establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States", known as the Creation Agreement (Russian: Соглашение, Soglasheniye).
The CIS announced that the new organization would be open to all republics of the former Soviet Union, and to other nations sharing the same goals. The CIS charter stated that all the members were sovereign and independent nations and thereby effectively abolished the Soviet Union. On 21 December 1991, the leaders of eight additional former Soviet Republics (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) signed the Alma-Ata Protocol which can either be interpreted as expanding the CIS to these states or the proper foundation or refoundation date of the CIS,[4] thus bringing the number of participating countries to 11.[5]Georgia joined two years later, in December 1993.[6] At this point, 12 of the 15 former Soviet Republics participated in the CIS. The three Baltic states did not, reflecting their governments' and people's view that the post-1940 Soviet occupation of their territory was illegitimate (in 2004 they joined NATO and the European Union). The CIS and Soviet Union also legally co-existed briefly with each other until 26 December 1991, when Soviet President Gorbachev stepped down, officially dissolving the Soviet Union. This was followed by Ivan Korotchenya becoming Executive Secretary of the CIS on the same day.[7]
After the end of the dissolution process of the Soviet Union, Russia and the Central Asian republics were weakened economically and faced declines in GDP. Post-Soviet states underwent economic reforms and privatisation.[journal 1][8] The process of Eurasian integration began immediately after the break-up of the Soviet Union to salvage economic ties with Post-Soviet republics.[journal 2]
CIS Charter (1993 to present)
The 20–22 June 2000 CIS Summit
On 22 January 1993, the Charter (Statutes) of the CIS were signed, setting up the different institutions of the CIS, their functions, the rules and statutes of the CIS. The Charter also defined that all countries having ratified the Agreement on the Establishment of the CIS and its relevant (Alma-Ata) Protocol would be considered to be founding states of the CIS, as well as that only countries ratifying the Charter would be considered to be member states of the CIS (art. 7). Other states can participate as associate members or observers, if accepted as such by a decision of the Council of Heads of State to the CIS (art. 8). All the founding states, apart from Ukraine and Turkmenistan, ratified the Charter of the CIS and became member states of it. Nevertheless, Ukraine and Turkmenistan kept participating in the CIS, without being member states of it. Ukraine became an associate member of the CIS Economic Union in April 1994, and Turkmenistan became an associate member of the CIS in August 2005. Georgia left the CIS altogether in 2009 and Ukraine stopped participating in 2018.
During a speech at Moscow State University in 1994, the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, suggested the idea of creating a "common defense" space within the CIS[9][10][11][12] Nazarbayev idea was quickly seen as a way to bolster trade, boost investments in the region, and serve as a counterweight to the West and East Asia.[10][13]
Between 2003 and 2005, three CIS member states experienced a change of government in a series of colour revolutions: Eduard Shevardnadze was overthrown in Georgia; Viktor Yushchenko was elected in Ukraine; and Askar Akayev was toppled in Kyrgyzstan. In February 2006, Georgia 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",[14][15] but it remained a full member of the CIS until August 2009, one year after officially withdrawing in the immediate aftermath of the Russo-Georgian War. In March 2007, Igor Ivanov, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, expressed his doubts concerning the usefulness of the CIS, emphasising that the Eurasian Economic Community was becoming a more competent organisation to unify the largest countries of the CIS.[16] Following the withdrawal of Georgia, the presidents of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan skipped the October 2009 meeting of the CIS, each having their own issues and disagreements with the Russian Federation.[17]
The Council of Foreign Ministers met in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on 11 April 2003 to discuss the War in Iraq and consider a draft program for the fight against terrorism and extremism, with the particularly the need for an international role in post-war Iraq, was further addressed at the May summit in St. Petersburg.[18]
In May 2009, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine joined the Eastern Partnership, a project which was initiated by the European Union (EU).
Membership
There are nine full member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
The Creation Agreement remained the main constituent document of the CIS until January 1993, when the CIS Charter (Russian: Устав, Ustav) was adopted.[19] The charter formalised the concept of membership: a member country is defined as a country that ratifies the CIS Charter (sec. 2, art. 7). Parties to CIS Creation Agreement but not the Charter are considered to be "Founding States" but not a full members.
Turkmenistan has not ratified the Charter and therefore is not formally a member of CIS. Nevertheless, it has consistently participated in CIS as if it were a member state. Turkmenistan changed its CIS standing to associate member as of 26 August 2005 in order to be consistent with its UN-recognised international neutrality status.[20][21]
Although Ukraine was one of the states which ratified the Creation Agreement in December 1991, making it a Founding State of the CIS, it chose not to ratify the CIS Charter[22][23] as it disagrees with Russia being the only legal successor state to the Soviet Union. Thus it has never been a full a member of the CIS.[6][24] However, Ukraine kept participating in the CIS, despite not being a member. In 1993, Ukraine became an associate member of CIS,[25]
Following the Russian military intervention in Ukraine and annexation of Crimea, relations between Ukraine and Russia deteriorated, leading Ukraine to consider ending its participation in the CIS. As Ukraine never ratified the Charter, it could cease its informal participation in the CIS. However, to fully terminate its relationship with the CIS it would need to legally withdraw from the Creation Agreement, as Georgia did previously. On 14 March 2014, a bill was introduced to Ukraine's parliament to denounce their ratification of the CIS Creation Agreement, but it was never approved.[26][27][28] Following the 2014 parliamentary election, a new bill to denounce the CIS agreement was introduced.[29][30] In September 2015, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed Ukraine will continue taking part in CIS "on a selective basis".[31][32] Since that month, Ukraine has had no representatives in the CIS Executive Committee building.[31] In April 2018, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko indicated that Ukraine would formally leave the CIS.[33] As of 1 June the CIS secretariat had not received formal notice from Ukraine of its withdrawal from the CIS, a process which will take 1 year following notice being given.[34][35][36][37][38][39][40]
On 19 May 2018, President Poroshenko signed a decree formally ending Ukraine's participation in CIS statutory bodies.[3] The CIS secretariat stated that it will continue inviting Ukraine to participate.[41] Ukraine has further stated that it intends to review its participation in all CIS agreements, and only continue in those that are in its interests.[42][43] The CIS secretariat stated that they will keep inviting Ukraine to participate in CIS activities.[44]
In light of Russia's support for the independence of breakaway regions within Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine,[45][46][47] as well as its violation of the Istanbul Agreement (see Adapted Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty), legislative initiatives to denounce the agreement on the creation of CIS were tabled in Moldova's parliament on 25 March 2014, though they were not approved.[48][49][50] A similar bill was proposed in January 2018.[51][52]
Member states
Country[53]
Agreement/protocol ratified
Charter ratified
Notes
Azerbaijan
24 September 1993
24 September 1993
Belarus
10 December 1991
18 January 1994
Founding state
Kazakhstan
23 December 1991
20 April 1994
Founding state
Kyrgyzstan
6 March 1992
12 April 1994
Founding state
Armenia
18 February 1992
16 March 1994
Founding state
Moldova
8 April 1994
15 April 1994
Russia
12 December 1991
20 July 1993
Founding state
Tajikistan
26 June 1993
4 August 1993
Uzbekistan
4 January 1992
9 February 1994
Founding state
Parties of the Creation Agreement
Two states, Ukraine and Turkmenistan, have ratified the CIS Creation Agreement, making them "founding states of the CIS", but did not ratify the subsequent Charter that would make them members of the CIS. These states, while not being formal members of the CIS, were allowed to participate in CIS.[54] They were also allowed to participate in various CIS initiatives, e.g. the Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Area[55], which were, however, formulated mostly as independent multilateral agreements, and not as internal CIS agreements. Additionally, Ukraine became an associate member state of the CIS Economic Union in 1994 and Turkmenistan an associate member state of the CIS in 2005.
Country[53]
Agreement/protocol ratified
Charter ratified
Notes
Turkmenistan
26 December 1991
Not ratified
"Founding state". Has never been a member. "Associate state" since 2005.
Ukraine
10 December 1991
Not ratified
"Founding State". Has never been a member. "Associate state" since 1993. Largely ceased to participate in CIS from 2014, and withdrew representatives from all statutory bodies of CIS in 2018 as a result of the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and Russia's involvement in the War in Donbass[56]
Former member state
Country
Agreement/protocol ratified
Charter ratified
Withdrawn
Effective
Notes
Georgia
3 December 1993
19 April 1994
18 August 2008
18 August 2009
Withdrew as a result of the Russo-Georgian War of 2008.
Politics
Executive Secretaries
Name
Country
Term
Ivan Korotchenya
Belarus
26 December 1991 – 29 April 1998
Boris Berezovsky
Russia
29 April 1998 – 4 March 1999
Ivan Korotchenya
Belarus
4 March – 2 April 1999
Yury Yarov
Russia
2 April 1999 – 14 June 2004
Vladimir Rushailo
Russia
14 June 2004 – 5 October 2007
Sergei Lebedev
Russia
5 October 2007 – Incumbent
Interparliamentary Assembly
Meeting of CIS leaders in Bishkek, 2008
The Interparliamentary Assembly was established in 27 March 1992 in Kazakhstan. On 26 May 1995 CIS leaders signed the Convention on the Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States eventually ratified by nine parliaments. Under the terms of the Convention, the IPA was invested with international legitimacy and is housed in the Tauride Palace in St Petersburg and acts as the consultative parliamentary wing of the CIS created to discuss problems of parliamentary cooperation and reviews draft documents of common interest and passes model laws to the national legislatures in the CIS (as well as recommendations) for their use in the preparation of new laws and amendments to existing legislation too which have been adopted by more than 130 documents that ensure the convergence of laws in the CIS to the national legislation. The Assembly is actively involved in the development of integration processes in the CIS and also sends observers to the national elections.[57] The Assembly held its 32nd Plenary meeting in Saint Petersburg on 14 May 2009. Ukraine participates, but Uzbekistan does not.[58][59]
Human rights
Since its inception, one of the primary goals of the CIS has been to provide a forum for discussing issues related to the social and economic development of the newly independent states. To achieve this goal member states have agreed to promote and protect human rights. Initially, efforts to achieve this goal consisted merely of statements of good will, but on 26 May 1995, the CIS adopted a Commonwealth of Independent States Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.[60]
Even before the 1995 human rights treaty, the Charter of the CIS that was adopted in 1991 created, in article 33, a Human Rights Commission sitting in Minsk, Belarus. This was confirmed by decision of the Council of Heads of States of the CIS in 1993. In 1995, the CIS adopted a human rights treaty that includes civil and political as well as social and economic human rights. This treaty entered into force in 1998. The CIS treaty is modeled on the European Convention on Human Rights, but lacking the strong implementation mechanisms of the latter. In the CIS treaty, the Human Rights Commission has very vaguely defined authority. The Statute of the Human Rights Commission, however, also adopted by the CIS Member States as a decision, gives the Commission the right to receive inter-state as well as individual communications.[citation needed]
CIS members, especially in Central Asia, continue to have among the world's poorest human rights records. Many activists point examples such as the 2005 Andijan massacre in Uzbekistan to show that there has been almost no improvement in human rights since the collapse of the Soviet Union in Central Asia. The consolidation of power by President Vladimir Putin has resulted in a steady decline in the modest progress of previous years in Russia. The Commonwealth of Independent States continues to face serious challenges in meeting even basic international standards.[61]
Military
Main articles: Council of Ministers of Defense of the CIS and Joint CIS Air Defense System
The members of the council meeting in Moscow in 2017
The CIS Charter establishes the Council of Ministers of Defense, which is vested with the task of coordinating military cooperation of the CIS member states. To this end, the Council develops conceptual approaches to the questions of military and defense policy of the CIS member states; develops proposals aimed to prevent armed conflicts on the territory of the member states or with their participation; gives expert opinions on draft treaties and agreements related to the questions of defense and military developments; issues related suggestions and proposals to the attention of the CIS Council of the Heads of State. Also important is the Council's work on approximation of the legal acts in the area of defense and military development.[citation needed]
An important manifestation of integration processes in the area of military and defense collaboration of the CIS member states is the creation, in 1995, of the joint CIS Air Defense System. Over the years, the military personnel of the joint CIS Air Defense System grew twofold along the western, European border of the CIS, and by 1.5 times on its southern borders.[62]
When Boris Yeltsin became Russian Defence Minister on 7 May 1992, Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, was appointed as Commander-in-Chief of the CIS Armed Forces, and his staff were ejected from the MOD and General Staff buildings and given offices in the former Warsaw Pact Headquarters at 41 Leningradsky Prospekt[63] on the northern outskirts of Moscow.[64] Shaposhnikov resigned in June 1993.
In December 1993, the CIS Armed Forces Headquarters was abolished.[65] Instead, "the CIS Council of Defence Ministers created a CIS Military Cooperation Coordination Headquarters (MCCH) in Moscow, with 50 per cent of the funding provided by Russia."[66] General Viktor Samsonov was appointed as Chief of Staff. The headquarters has now moved to 101000, Москва, Сверчков переулок, 3/2, and 41 Leningradsky Prospekt has now been taken over by another Russian MOD agency.
The chiefs of the CIS general staffs have spoken in favor of integrating their national armed forces.[67]
The CIS is known to have mediated some regional hostilities between the "Stan countries" in Central Asia.
Economy
Main article: Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Area
In 1994, negotiations were initiated between the CIS countries on free trade area (FTA), but no agreement was signed. A proposed free trade agreement would have covered all twelve then CIS members except Turkmenistan.[68]
In 2009, a new agreement was begun to create a FTA, the CIS Free Trade Agreement (CISFTA).[69] In October 2011, the new free trade agreement was signed by eight of the eleven CIS prime ministers; Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, and Ukraine at a meeting in St. Petersburg. Initially, the treaty was only ratified by Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine,[70][71][72] however by the end of 2012, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Moldova had also completed ratification.[73][74] In December 2013, Uzbekistan, signed and then ratified the treaty,[75][76] while the remaining two signatories, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan later both ratified the treaty in January 2014 and December 2015 respectively.[77][78]Azerbaijan is the only full CIS member state not to participate in the free trade area.
The free trade agreement eliminates export and import duties on a number of goods but also contains a number of exemptions that will ultimately be phased out.[79] An agreement was also signed on the basic principles of currency regulation and currency controls in the CIS at the same October 2011 meeting.[80]
Corruption and bureaucracy are serious problems for trade in CIS countries.[81]
Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed that CIS members take up a digitization agenda to modernize CIS economies.[82]
Common Economic Space
After discussion about the creation of a common economic space between the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) 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 Novo-Ogarevo on 23 February 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 organisation that would be open for other countries to join as well, and could eventually lead even to a single currency.
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. Yushchenko's successor Viktor Yanukovych stated on 27 April 2010 "Ukraine's entry into the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan is not possible today, since the economic principles and the laws of the WTO do not allow it, we develop our policy in accordance with WTO principles".[83] Ukraine is a WTO member.[83]
A Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia was thus created in 2010,[84] with a single market envisioned for 2012.[85]
Economic data
Country
Population[86] (2016)
GDP 2007.mw-parser-output .noboldfont-weight:normal (USD)
GDP 2012 (USD)
GDP growth (2012)
GDP per capita (2007)
GDP per capita (2012)
Belarus
9,480,042
45,275,738,770
58,215,000,000
4.3%
4,656
6,710
Kazakhstan
17,987,736
104,849,915,344
196,642,000,000
5.2%
6,805
11,700
Kyrgyzstan
5,955,734
3,802,570,572
6,197,000,000
0.8%
711
1,100
Russia
143,964,513
1,294,381,844,081
2,022,000,000,000
3.4%
9,119
14,240
Tajikistan
8,734,951
2,265,340,888
7,263,000,000
2.1%
337
900
Uzbekistan
31,446,795
22,355,214,805
51,622,000,000
4.1%
831
1,800
Azerbaijan
9,725,376
33,049,426,816
71,043,000,000
3.8%
3,829
7,500
Moldova
4,059,608
4,401,137,824
7,589,000,000
4.4%
1,200
2,100
Armenia
2,924,816
9,204,496,419
10,551,000,000
2.1%
2,996
3,500
The data is taken from the United Nations statistics division and the United States Central Intelligence Agency.[87]
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Azerbaijan
Belarus
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Armenia
Moldova
Russia
Tajikistan
Uzbekistan
Turkmenistan
Ukraine
Georgia
