international organization
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External Websites
- Nuclear Threat Initiative - Treaties and Regimes - Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
- GlobalSecurity.org - Commonwealth of Independent States
- Academia - The disintegration process of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
- Encyclopedia of Ukraine - Commonwealth of Independent States
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Armenia - Commonwealth of Independent States
- CRW Flags - Flag of Commonwealth of Independent States
Britannica Websites
Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
- Commonwealth of Independent States - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
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Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
External Websites
- Nuclear Threat Initiative - Treaties and Regimes - Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
- GlobalSecurity.org - Commonwealth of Independent States
- Academia - The disintegration process of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
- Encyclopedia of Ukraine - Commonwealth of Independent States
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Armenia - Commonwealth of Independent States
- CRW Flags - Flag of Commonwealth of Independent States
Britannica Websites
Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
- Commonwealth of Independent States - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
Also known as: CIS, Sodruzhestvo Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv
Written and fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last Updated: •Article History
Commonwealth of Independent States
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- Russian:
- Sodruzhestvo Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv
- Date:
- December 21, 1991 - present
- Areas Of Involvement:
- policy
- Related People:
- Boris Yeltsin
- On the Web:
- Academia - The disintegration process of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) (June 20, 2024)
See all related content →
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), free association of sovereign states that was formed in 1991 by Russia and 11 other republics that were formerly part of the Soviet Union. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) had its origins on December 8, 1991, when the elected leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus (Belorussia) signed an agreement forming a new association to replace the crumbling Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.). The three Slavic republics were subsequently joined by the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, by the Transcaucasian republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, and by Moldova. (The remaining former Soviet republics—Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia—declined to join the new organization.) The CIS formally came into being on December 21, 1991, and began operations the following month, with the city of Minsk in Belarus designated as its administrative centre.
The CIS’s functions are to coordinate its members’ policies regarding their economies, foreign relations, defense, immigration policies, environmental protection, and law enforcement. Its top governmental body is a council composed of the member republics’ heads of state (i.e., presidents) and of government (prime ministers), who are assisted by committees of republic cabinet ministers in key areas such as economics and defense. The CIS’s members pledged to keep both their armed forces and the former Soviet nuclear weapons stationed on their territories under a single unified command. In practice this proved difficult, however, as did the members’ efforts to coordinate the introduction of market-type mechanisms and private ownership into their respective economies.
More From Britannicamedicine: Former Soviet UnionIn August 2008, following an escalation of hostilities between Russia and Georgia over the separatist region of South Ossetia, Georgia announced its intention to withdraw from the CIS. The withdrawal was finalized in August 2009. A similar proxy war broke out in eastern Ukraine in 2014 after Russia’s illegal annexation of the Ukrainian autonomous republic of Crimea. By 2018 at least 10,000 people had been killed in clashes between Ukrainian armed forces and Russian-backed paramilitary units in the Donets Basin. In May of that year, Ukrainian Pres. Petro Poroshenko officially withdrew Ukraine’s membership from the CIS.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Michael Ray.