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Commonwealth of Independent States

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)[a] is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of 20,368,759 km2 (7,864,422 sq mi) and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. The CIS encourages cooperation in economic, political and military affairs and has certain powers relating to the coordination of trade, finance, lawmaking, and security. It has also promoted cooperation on cross-border crime prevention.

Commonwealth of
Independent States
Содружество Независимых Государств
Sodruzhestvo Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv
     Member states      Disputed territory[1]
     Associate state
Administrative seats
Largest cityMoscow
Working languageRussian
TypeIntergovernmental
Membership
9 member states
1 associate state
Leaders
• General Secretary
Sergey Lebedev
• Chairperson
Valentina Matviyenko
• Chair
Kazakhstan
LegislatureInterparliamentary Assembly[2]
Establishment
8 December 1991
21 December 1991
22 January 1993
20 September 2012
Area
• Total
20,368,759[3] km2 (7,864,422 sq mi)
Population
• 2018 estimate
236,446,000
(excluding Crimea)
• Density
11.77/km2 (30.5/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)2022 estimate
• Total
$5.5 trillion
• Per capita
$22,500 (approx.)
GDP (nominal)2022 estimate
• Total
$2.5 trillion
• Per capita
$9,000 (approx.)
HDI (2017)0.740
high
CurrencyNo common currencya
Associate state
Time zoneUTC+2 to +12
Driving sideright
Internet TLD.ru, .by, .am, .kz, .kg, .az, .md, .tj, .uz
Website
e-cis.info
a Soviet ruble (руб) used from 1991 to 1994

As the Soviet Union disintegrated, Belarus, Russia and Ukraine signed the Belovezh Accords on 8 December 1991, declaring that the Union had effectively ceased to exist and proclaimed the CIS in its place. On 21 December, the Alma-Ata Protocol was signed. 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 following the Russo-Georgian War. Ukraine formally ended its participation in CIS statutory bodies in 2018, although it had stopped participating in the organization much earlier.[4][5][6]

Eight of the nine CIS member states participate in the CIS Free Trade Area. Three organizations originated from the CIS, namely the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Eurasian Economic Union (alongside subdivisions, the Eurasian Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Space); 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, currency, and so on.

History and structure

Background

 
Signing of the Belovezh Accords, 8 December 1991

The CIS as a shared Russophone social, cultural, and economic space has its origins with the Russian Empire, which was replaced in 1917 by the Russian Republic after the February Revolution earlier that year. Following the October Revolution, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic became the leading republic in the Soviet Union (USSR) upon its creation with the 1922 Treaty and Declaration of the Creation of the USSR along with Byelorussian SSR, Ukrainian SSR and Transcaucasian SFSR.

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][7] 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]

Founding

Following the events of a failed coup, many republics of the USSR 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 its place on 8 December 1991 by the Byelorussian SSR, the Russian SFSR, and the Ukrainian SSR, when the leaders of the three republics met at the Belovezhskaya Pushcha Natural Reserve,[8] about 50 km (31 mi) north of Brest in Belarus, and signed the "Agreement Establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States", known as the Belovezh Accords (Russian: Беловежские соглашения, romanizedBelovezhskiye soglasheniya).

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 foundation date of the CIS,[9] thus bringing the number of participating countries to 11.[10] Georgia joined two years later, in December 1993.[11] 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. The CIS and Soviet Union also legally co-existed briefly with each other until 26 December 1991, when the Soviet of the Republics formally dissolved the Soviet Union. This was followed by Ivan Korotchenya becoming Executive Secretary of the CIS on the same day.[12]

CIS Charter

 
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 have 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 those 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 its members.

General Secretary

Between 1991 and 2009, the work of CIS was coordinated by the General Secretary.

General Secretaries
Name Term
Ivan Korotchenya [ru] 14 May 1993 – 29 April 1998
Boris Berezovsky 29 April 1998 – 4 March 1999
Ivan Korotchenya [ru] 4 March – 2 April 1999
Yury Yarov 2 April 1999 – 14 June 2004
Vladimir Rushailo 14 June 2004 – 5 October 2007
Sergei Lebedev 5 October 2007 – 2009

Interparliamentary Assembly

The Interparliamentary Assembly was established on 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.[13] The Assembly held its 32nd Plenary meeting in Saint Petersburg on 14 May 2009.

Further developments

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 March 2007, Igor Ivanov, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, expressed his doubts concerning the usefulness of the CIS, emphasizing that the Eurasian Economic Community was becoming a more competent organization to unify the largest countries of the CIS.[14] 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.[15]

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, tr. Ustav) was adopted.[16] The charter formalized 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 full members.

Member states
Country[17] Signed Agreement ratified Charter ratified Notes
Armenia 21 December 1991 18 February 1992 16 March 1994 Founding state
Azerbaijan 21 December 1991 24 September 1993 24 September 1993
Belarus 8 December 1991 10 December 1991 18 January 1994 Founding state
Kazakhstan 21 December 1991 23 December 1991 20 April 1994 Founding state
Kyrgyzstan 21 December 1991 6 March 1992 12 April 1994 Founding state
Moldova 21 December 1991 8 April 1994 15 April 1994 Suspended participation[18]
Russia 8 December 1991 12 December 1991 20 July 1993 Founding state
Tajikistan 21 December 1991 26 June 1993 4 August 1993
Uzbekistan 21 December 1991 4 January 1992 9 February 1994 Founding state
Ratifiers of the Creation Agreement
Country[17] Signed Agreement ratified Charter ratified Notes
Turkmenistan 21 December 1991 26 December 1991 Not ratified "Founding state". Has never been a full member. "Associate state" since 2005.
Ukraine 8 December 1991 10 December 1991 Not ratified "Founding state". Has never been a full member. "Associate state" from 1994 to 2018. Ceased to participate from 2014,[19] and withdrew its representatives from CIS in 2018.[20]
Former member states
Country Signed Agreement ratified Charter ratified Withdrawn Effective Notes
Georgia 3 December 1993 3 December 1993 19 April 1994 18 August 2008 18 August 2009 Withdrew as a result of the Russo-Georgian War of 2008.
 
Member states:
  Associated member
  Former member

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.[21] They were also allowed to participate in various CIS initiatives, e.g. the Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Area,[22] 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. However, the Verkhovna Rada did not ratify the agreement on associate membership in accordance with the CIS Charter.[23] As a result, De jure Ukraine only had the status of a "founding state", without even being an associate member.[23]

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan has not ratified the Charter and therefore is not formally a member of the CIS. Nevertheless, it has consistently participated in the CIS as if it were a member state. Turkmenistan changed its CIS standing to associate member as of 26 August 2005. The cited reason was to be consistent with its 1995-proclaimed, UN-recognised, international neutrality status, but experts have cited the country no longer needing Russia to provide natural gas access, as well as the country's declining faith in the confederation's ability to maintain internal stability in light of the Colour Revolutions.[24][25]

Ukraine

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[26][27] as it disagrees with Russia being the only legal successor state to the Soviet Union. Thus it has never been a full member of the CIS.[11][28] However, Ukraine kept participating in the CIS, despite not being a member. In 1993, Ukraine became an associate member of the Economic Union of the CIS.[19]

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.[29][30][31] Following the 2014 parliamentary election, a new bill to denounce the CIS agreement was introduced.[32][33] In September 2015, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed Ukraine will continue taking part in the CIS "on a selective basis".[34][35] Since that month, Ukraine has had no representatives in the CIS Executive Committee building.[34] In April 2018, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko indicated that Ukraine would formally leave the CIS.[36] As of 1 June, the CIS secretariat had not received formal notice from Ukraine of its withdrawal from the CIS, a process that will take one year to complete, following notice being given.[37][38][39][40]

On 19 May 2018, Poroshenko signed a decree formally ending Ukraine's participation in CIS statutory bodies.[41] The CIS secretariat stated that it will continue inviting Ukraine to participate. 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.

Georgia

Following the overthrow of Eduard Shevardnadze in Georgia, Georgia officially withdrew from the Council of Defense Ministers in February 2006,[42] stating that "Georgia has taken a course to join NATO and it cannot be part of two military structures simultaneously".[43] However, it remained a full member of the CIS.

In the aftermath of the Russo-Georgian War in 2008, President Saakashvili announced during a public speech in the capital city Tbilisi that Georgia would leave the CIS[44] and the Georgian Parliament voted unanimously on 14 August 2008 to withdraw from the regional organization.[45] On 18 August 2008 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia sent a note to the CIS Executive Committee notifying it of the aforesaid resolutions of the Parliament of Georgia and Georgia’s withdrawal from CIS.[46] In accordance with the CIS Charter (sec. 1, art. 9),[47] Georgia's withdrawal came into effect 12 months later, on 18 August 2009.[48][49]

Moldova

In light of Russia's support for the independence of occupied regions within Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine[50][51][52] 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.[53][54][55] A similar bill was proposed in January 2018.[56][57]

On 14 June 2022, Moldovan Minister of Foreign Affairs Nicu Popescu said the Moldovan government was considering the prospect of leaving the CIS, although at the end of May President Maia Sandu had said the country would not leave for the time being.[58] An August 2021 poll conducted in Moldova (prior to the start of Russia's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine) found that 48.1% of respondents supported Moldova's withdrawal from the CIS.[59] On 30 November 2022, Popescu stated that Moldova will suspend its participation in CIS meetings,[60] and on 23 February 2023 stated that Moldova has started denouncing multiple treaties that the country signed with the CIS, as his country aims to join the European Union.[61]

Politics

 
Meeting of CIS leaders in Bishkek, 2008

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 goodwill, but on 26 May 1995, the CIS adopted a Commonwealth of Independent States Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.[62]

In 1991, four years before the 1995 human rights treaty, article 33 of the Charter of the CIS created a Human Rights Commission with its seat in Minsk, Belarus. This was confirmed by the 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 modelled 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 to 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. In turn, this has led to little to no scrutiny by Russia when it comes to the situation of human rights in other CIS member states. The Commonwealth of Independent States continues to face serious challenges in meeting even basic international standards.[63]

Military

 
The members of the council meeting in Moscow in 2017

The CIS Charter establishes the Council of Ministers of Defence, 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 defence 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 defence 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 the approximation of the legal acts in the area of defence and military development.[citation needed]

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.[64][65][66] Nazarbayev's 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.[65][67]

An important manifestation of integration processes in the area of military and defence 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.[68]

When Boris Yeltsin became Russian Defence Minister on 7 May 1992, Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, was appointed as Commander-in-Chief of the CIS Armed Forces (Russian: Объединённые жённые силы СНГ), 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[69] on the northern outskirts of Moscow.[70] Shaposhnikov resigned in June 1993.

In December 1993, the CIS Armed Forces Headquarters was abolished.[71] Instead, "the CIS Council of Defence Ministers created a CIS Military Cooperation Coordination Headquarters (MCCH) in Moscow, with 50 percent of the funding provided by Russia."[72] 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.

Economy

In 1994, negotiations were initiated between the CIS countries on establishing a free trade area (FTA), but no agreement was signed. A proposed free trade agreement would have covered all twelve then CIS members and treaty parties except Turkmenistan.[73]

In 2009, a new agreement was begun to create a FTA, the CIS Free Trade Agreement (CISFTA).[citation needed] 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,[74][75][76] however by the end of 2012, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Moldova had also completed ratification.[77][78] In December 2013, Uzbekistan, signed and then ratified the treaty,[79][80] while the remaining two signatories, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan later both ratified the treaty in January 2014 and December 2015 respectively.[81][82] 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 several goods but also contains a number of exemptions that will ultimately be phased out.[citation needed] An agreement was also signed on the basic principles of currency regulation and currency controls in the CIS at the same October 2011 meeting.[citation needed]

Corruption and bureaucracy are serious problems for trade in CIS countries.[83]

Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed that CIS members take up a digitization agenda to modernize CIS economies.[84]

Common Economic Space

After a 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 Kyiv, 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.[citation needed]

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 had shown renewed interest in Ukrainian membership in the European Union and such membership would be incompatible with the envisioned common economic space.[citation needed] 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 following WTO principles".[85] Ukraine has been a WTO member since 2008.[85]

A Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia was thus created in 2010,[86] A single market had been envisioned for 2012,[citation needed] but instead the customs union was renamed as the Eurasian Customs Union and expanded to include Armenia and Kyrgyzstan in 2015.

Economic data[87]

Country Population (2021) GDP (USD) GDP growth
(2012)
GDP per capita Human Development
Index (2019)
2007 2012 2007 2012 2020
Belarus 9,578,167 45,275,738,770 65,685,000,000 4.3% 4,656 6,940 6,411 0.823
Kazakhstan 19,196,465 104,849,915,344 196,642,000,000 5.2% 6,805 11,700 9,122 0.825
Kyrgyzstan 6,527,743 3,802,570,572 6,197,000,000 0.8% 711 1,100 1,174 0.697
Russia 145,102,755 1,294,381,844,081 2,022,000,000,000 3.4% 9,119 14,240 10,127 0.824
Tajikistan 9,750,064 3,695,939,000 7,263,000,000 2.1% 526 960 859 0.668
Uzbekistan 34,081,449 22,355,214,805 63,622,000,000 4.1% 831 2,137 1,686 0.720
Azerbaijan 10,312,992 33,049,426,816 71,043,000,000 3.8% 3,829 7,500 4,214 0.756
Moldova 3,061,506 4,401,137,824 7,589,000,000 4.4% 1,200 2,100 4,551 0.750
Armenia 2,790,974 9,204,496,419 10,551,000,000 2.1% 2,996 3,500 4,268 0.776

Associated organisations

GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic DevelopmentGeorgia (country)AzerbaijanUkraineMoldovaTajikistanTurkmenistanCollective Security Treaty OrganizationEurasian Economic UnionUzbekistanKyrgyzstanKazakhstanArmeniaUnion StateBelarusRussiaCommonwealth of Independent StatesCommonwealth of Independent States Free Trade AreaBaltic AssemblyLithuaniaLatviaEstoniaCommunity for Democracy and Rights of NationsTransnistriaAbkhaziaSouth OssetiaRepublic of Artsakh 
An Euler diagram showing the relationships among various supranational organisations in the territory of the former Soviet Unionvde

Organisation of Central Asian Cooperation

Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan formed the OCAC in 1991 as Central Asian Commonwealth (CAC).[citation needed] The organisation continued in 1994 as the Central Asian Economic Union (CAEU), in which Tajikistan and Turkmenistan did not participate. In 1998 it became the Central Asian Economic Cooperation (CAEC), which marked the return of Tajikistan. On 28 February 2002, it was renamed to its current name. Russia joined on 28 May 2004.[88] On 7 October 2005, it was decided between the member states that Uzbekistan will join[citation needed] the Eurasian Economic Community and that the organisations will merge.[89] The organisations joined on 25 January 2006. It is not clear what will happen to the status of current CACO observers that are not observers to EurAsEC (Georgia and Turkey).

Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations

The post-Soviet disputed states of Abkhazia, Artsakh, South Ossetia, and Transnistria are all members of the Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations which aims to forge closer integration among the members.

Other activities

Election monitoring

The CIS-Election Monitoring Organisation (Russian: Миссия наблюдателей от СНГ на выборах) is an election monitoring body that was formed in October 2002, following a Commonwealth of Independent States heads of states meeting which adopted the Convention on the Standards of Democratic Elections, Electoral Rights, and Freedoms in the Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The CIS-EMO has been sending election observers to member countries of the CIS since this time.[citation needed]

Controversies

The election monitoring body has approved many elections which have been heavily criticised by independent observers.[90]

  • The democratic nature of the final round of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election which followed the Orange Revolution and brought into power the former opposition, was questioned by the CIS while the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) found no significant problems. This was the first time that the CIS observation teams challenged the validity of an election, saying that it should be considered illegitimate. On 15 March 2005, the Ukrainian Independent Information Agency quoted Dmytro Svystkov (a spokesman of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry) that Ukraine has suspended its participation in the CIS election monitoring organization.[citation needed]
  • The CIS praised the Uzbekistan parliamentary elections, 2005 as "legitimate, free and transparent" while the OSCE had referred to the Uzbek elections as having fallen "significantly short of OSCE commitments and other international standards for democratic elections".[91][92]
  • Moldovan authorities refused to invite CIS observers in the 2005 Moldovan parliamentary elections, an action Russia criticised. Many dozens such observers from Belarus and Russia were stopped from reaching Moldova.[93]
  • CIS observers monitored the Tajikistan parliamentary elections, 2005 and in the end declared them "legal, free and transparent." The same elections were pronounced by the OSCE to have failed international standards for democratic elections.[citation needed]
  • Soon after CIS observers hailed the Kyrgyz parliamentary elections of 2005 as "well-organized, free, and fair", as large-scale and often violent demonstrations broke out throughout the country protesting what the opposition called a rigged parliamentary election. In contrast, the OSCE reported that the elections fell short of international standards in many areas.[94]
  • International observers of the Interparliamentary Assembly stated the 2010 local elections in Ukraine were organised well.[95] While the Council of Europe uncovered a number of problems in relation to a new electorate law approved just prior to the elections[95] and the Obama administration criticised the conduct of the elections, saying they "did not meet standards for openness and fairness".[96][97]

Russian language status

Russia has urged that the Russian language receive official status in all of the CIS member states. So far Russian is an official language in only four states: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Russian is also considered an official language in the region of Transnistria and the autonomous region of Gagauzia in Moldova. Viktor Yanukovych, the Moscow-supported presidential candidate in the controversial 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, declared his intention to make Russian an official second language of Ukraine. However, the Western-supported candidate Viktor Yushchenko, who eventually won, successfully opposed the idea.[citation needed] After his early 2010 election, President Yanukovych stated (on 9 March 2010), "Ukraine will continue to promote the Ukrainian language as its only state language."[98]

Sports events

At the time of the Soviet Union's dissolution in December 1991, its sports teams had been invited to or qualified for various 1992 sports events. A joint CIS team took its place in some of these. The "Unified Team" competed in the 1992 Winter Olympics and 1992 Summer Olympics, and a CIS association football team competed in UEFA Euro 1992. A CIS bandy team played some friendlies in January 1992 and made its last appearance at the 1992 Russian Government Cup, where it also played against the new Russia national bandy team. The Soviet Union bandy championship for 1991–1992 was rebranded as a CIS championship.[citation needed]

Since then, the CIS members have each competed separately in international sports.[citation needed]

In 2017, a festival for national sports and games, known as the Festival of National Sports and Games of the Commonwealth of Independent States (Russian: Фестиваль национальных видов спорта и игр государств — участников Содружества Независимых Государств) was held in Ulyanovsk. The main sports were sambo, tug of war, mas-wrestling, gorodki, belt wrestling, lapta, bandy (rink), kettlebell lifting, chess and archery. A few demonstration sports were also a part of the programme.[99]

Cultural events

The CIS has also been a relevant forum to support cultural relations between former Soviet republics. In 2006, the Council of the Heads of Governments of the CIS launched the Intergovernmental Foundation for Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Cooperation (IFESCCO).[100] IFESSCO has substantially relied on Russia's financial support since its creation and supported several multilateral cultural events, including the ‘CIS Capital of Culture’ initiative.[101] In 2017, the Armenian city of Goris was declared the CIS Cultural Capital of the year.

Life expectancy

Life expectancy at birth in the countries of CIS in 2020, according to the World Bank Group.[102][103][104]

Countries all male female gender
gap
Δ 2019
all
Δ 2019
male
Δ 2019
female
Δ 2019
gen. gap
 
Belarus 74.23 69.30 79.40 10.10 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Armenia 72.17 67.05 77.00 9.94 −3.27 −3.35 −2.86 0.49
Kyrgyzstan 71.80 67.80 76.00 8.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.00
Kazakhstan 71.37 67.09 75.53 8.44 −1.81 −1.73 −1.77 −0.04
Russia 71.34 66.49 76.43 9.94 −1.75 −1.75 −1.74 0.01
Uzbekistan 70.33 67.88 72.79 4.91 −1.01 −0.91 −1.09 −0.19
Moldova 70.17 65.69 74.85 9.16 −0.77 −0.69 −0.77 −0.08
Turkmenistan 68.69 65.39 71.98 6.59 −0.31 −0.16 −0.48 −0.32
Tajikistan 67.99 66.00 70.17 4.17 −2.87 −2.86 −2.84 0.02
Azerbaijan 66.87 62.99 71.00 8.01 −6.23 −7.24 −4.83 2.41

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Russian: Содружество Независимых Государств, СНГ, tr. Sodruzhestvo Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv, SNG

References

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Journals

  1. ^ "Russian Federation" (PDF). Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (PDF) from the original on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  2. ^ "Eurasian economic integration: figures and facts" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2014.

External links

  • Charter of the CIS at the Library of Congress Web Archives (archived 20 July 2006)
  • CIS Executive Committee
  • Interstate Statistical Committee of the CIS

commonwealth, independent, states, confused, with, commonwealth, nations, other, uses, acronym, regional, intergovernmental, organization, eurasia, formed, following, dissolution, soviet, union, 1991, covers, area, estimated, population, encourages, cooperatio. Not to be confused with Commonwealth of Nations For other uses of CIS as acronym see CIS The Commonwealth of Independent States CIS a is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 It covers an area of 20 368 759 km2 7 864 422 sq mi and has an estimated population of 239 796 010 The CIS encourages cooperation in economic political and military affairs and has certain powers relating to the coordination of trade finance lawmaking and security It has also promoted cooperation on cross border crime prevention Commonwealth ofIndependent StatesSodruzhestvo Nezavisimyh GosudarstvSodruzhestvo Nezavisimykh GosudarstvFlag Emblem Member states Disputed territory 1 Associate stateAdministrative seatsMinskMoscowLargest cityMoscowWorking languageRussianTypeIntergovernmentalMembership9 member states ArmeniaAzerbaijanBelarusKazakhstanKyrgyzstanMoldova suspended participation RussiaTajikistanUzbekistan1 associate state TurkmenistanLeaders General SecretarySergey Lebedev ChairpersonValentina Matviyenko ChairKazakhstanLegislatureInterparliamentary Assembly 2 Establishment Belavezha Accords8 December 1991 Alma Ata Protocol21 December 1991 Charter adopted22 January 1993 Free Trade Area20 September 2012Area Total20 368 759 3 km2 7 864 422 sq mi Population 2018 estimate236 446 000 excluding Crimea Density11 77 km2 30 5 sq mi GDP PPP 2022 estimate Total 5 5 trillion Per capita 22 500 approx GDP nominal 2022 estimate Total 2 5 trillion Per capita 9 000 approx HDI 2017 0 740highCurrencyNo common currencya Member states Armenian dram Azerbaijani manat Belarusian ruble Rbl Kazakhstani tenge Kyrgyzstani som S Moldovan leu Ĺ Russian rouble Tajikistani somoni S Uzbekistani soum S Associate state Turkmenistani manat m Time zoneUTC 2 to 12Driving siderightInternet TLD ru by am kz kg az md tj uzWebsitee cis wbr infoa Soviet ruble rub used from 1991 to 1994As the Soviet Union disintegrated Belarus Russia and Ukraine signed the Belovezh Accords on 8 December 1991 declaring that the Union had effectively ceased to exist and proclaimed the CIS in its place On 21 December the Alma Ata Protocol was signed 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 following the Russo Georgian War Ukraine formally ended its participation in CIS statutory bodies in 2018 although it had stopped participating in the organization much earlier 4 5 6 Eight of the nine CIS member states participate in the CIS Free Trade Area Three organizations originated from the CIS namely the Collective Security Treaty Organization the Eurasian Economic Union alongside subdivisions the Eurasian Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Space 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 currency and so on Contents 1 History and structure 1 1 Background 1 2 Founding 1 3 CIS Charter 1 4 General Secretary 1 5 Interparliamentary Assembly 1 6 Further developments 2 Membership 2 1 Turkmenistan 2 2 Ukraine 2 3 Georgia 2 4 Moldova 3 Politics 3 1 Human rights 3 2 Military 3 3 Economy 4 Associated organisations 4 1 Organisation of Central Asian Cooperation 4 2 Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations 5 Other activities 5 1 Election monitoring 5 2 Russian language status 5 3 Sports events 5 4 Cultural events 5 5 Life expectancy 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 8 1 Journals 9 External linksHistory and structure EditMain articles History of Russia Russian Empire Russian Republic Soviet Union and its history This section needs to be updated The reason given is Missing newer organisational developments New structure has been put in place in 2009 Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information March 2023 Background Edit Signing of the Belovezh Accords 8 December 1991 The CIS as a shared Russophone social cultural and economic space has its origins with the Russian Empire which was replaced in 1917 by the Russian Republic after the February Revolution earlier that year Following the October Revolution the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic became the leading republic in the Soviet Union USSR upon its creation with the 1922 Treaty and Declaration of the Creation of the USSR along with Byelorussian SSR Ukrainian SSR and Transcaucasian SFSR 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 7 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 Founding Edit Following the events of a failed coup many republics of the USSR 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 its place on 8 December 1991 by the Byelorussian SSR the Russian SFSR and the Ukrainian SSR when the leaders of the three republics met at the Belovezhskaya Pushcha Natural Reserve 8 about 50 km 31 mi north of Brest in Belarus and signed the Agreement Establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States known as the Belovezh Accords Russian Belovezhskie soglasheniya romanized Belovezhskiye soglasheniya 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 foundation date of the CIS 9 thus bringing the number of participating countries to 11 10 Georgia joined two years later in December 1993 11 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 The CIS and Soviet Union also legally co existed briefly with each other until 26 December 1991 when the Soviet of the Republics formally dissolved the Soviet Union This was followed by Ivan Korotchenya becoming Executive Secretary of the CIS on the same day 12 CIS Charter Edit 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 have 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 those 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 its members General Secretary Edit Between 1991 and 2009 the work of CIS was coordinated by the General Secretary General Secretaries Name TermIvan Korotchenya ru 14 May 1993 29 April 1998Boris Berezovsky 29 April 1998 4 March 1999Ivan Korotchenya ru 4 March 2 April 1999Yury Yarov 2 April 1999 14 June 2004Vladimir Rushailo 14 June 2004 5 October 2007Sergei Lebedev 5 October 2007 2009Interparliamentary Assembly Edit The Interparliamentary Assembly was established on 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 13 The Assembly held its 32nd Plenary meeting in Saint Petersburg on 14 May 2009 Further developments Edit 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 March 2007 Igor Ivanov the secretary of the Russian Security Council expressed his doubts concerning the usefulness of the CIS emphasizing that the Eurasian Economic Community was becoming a more competent organization to unify the largest countries of the CIS 14 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 15 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 EditThere 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 Ustav tr Ustav was adopted 16 The charter formalized 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 full members Member states Country 17 Signed Agreement ratified Charter ratified NotesArmenia 21 December 1991 18 February 1992 16 March 1994 Founding stateAzerbaijan 21 December 1991 24 September 1993 24 September 1993Belarus 8 December 1991 10 December 1991 18 January 1994 Founding stateKazakhstan 21 December 1991 23 December 1991 20 April 1994 Founding stateKyrgyzstan 21 December 1991 6 March 1992 12 April 1994 Founding stateMoldova 21 December 1991 8 April 1994 15 April 1994 Suspended participation 18 Russia 8 December 1991 12 December 1991 20 July 1993 Founding stateTajikistan 21 December 1991 26 June 1993 4 August 1993Uzbekistan 21 December 1991 4 January 1992 9 February 1994 Founding stateRatifiers of the Creation Agreement Country 17 Signed Agreement ratified Charter ratified NotesTurkmenistan 21 December 1991 26 December 1991 Not ratified Founding state Has never been a full member Associate state since 2005 Ukraine 8 December 1991 10 December 1991 Not ratified Founding state Has never been a full member Associate state from 1994 to 2018 Ceased to participate from 2014 19 and withdrew its representatives from CIS in 2018 20 Former member states Country Signed Agreement ratified Charter ratified Withdrawn Effective NotesGeorgia 3 December 1993 3 December 1993 19 April 1994 18 August 2008 18 August 2009 Withdrew as a result of the Russo Georgian War of 2008 Member states Associated member Former member 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 21 They were also allowed to participate in various CIS initiatives e g the Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Area 22 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 However the Verkhovna Rada did not ratify the agreement on associate membership in accordance with the CIS Charter 23 As a result De jure Ukraine only had the status of a founding state without even being an associate member 23 Turkmenistan Edit Turkmenistan has not ratified the Charter and therefore is not formally a member of the CIS Nevertheless it has consistently participated in the CIS as if it were a member state Turkmenistan changed its CIS standing to associate member as of 26 August 2005 The cited reason was to be consistent with its 1995 proclaimed UN recognised international neutrality status but experts have cited the country no longer needing Russia to provide natural gas access as well as the country s declining faith in the confederation s ability to maintain internal stability in light of the Colour Revolutions 24 25 Ukraine Edit Main article Ukraine Commonwealth of Independent States relations 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 26 27 as it disagrees with Russia being the only legal successor state to the Soviet Union Thus it has never been a full member of the CIS 11 28 However Ukraine kept participating in the CIS despite not being a member In 1993 Ukraine became an associate member of the Economic Union of the CIS 19 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 29 30 31 Following the 2014 parliamentary election a new bill to denounce the CIS agreement was introduced 32 33 In September 2015 the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed Ukraine will continue taking part in the CIS on a selective basis 34 35 Since that month Ukraine has had no representatives in the CIS Executive Committee building 34 In April 2018 Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko indicated that Ukraine would formally leave the CIS 36 As of 1 June the CIS secretariat had not received formal notice from Ukraine of its withdrawal from the CIS a process that will take one year to complete following notice being given 37 38 39 40 On 19 May 2018 Poroshenko signed a decree formally ending Ukraine s participation in CIS statutory bodies 41 The CIS secretariat stated that it will continue inviting Ukraine to participate 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 Georgia Edit Following the overthrow of Eduard Shevardnadze in Georgia Georgia officially withdrew from the Council of Defense Ministers in February 2006 42 stating that Georgia has taken a course to join NATO and it cannot be part of two military structures simultaneously 43 However it remained a full member of the CIS In the aftermath of the Russo Georgian War in 2008 President Saakashvili announced during a public speech in the capital city Tbilisi that Georgia would leave the CIS 44 and the Georgian Parliament voted unanimously on 14 August 2008 to withdraw from the regional organization 45 On 18 August 2008 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia sent a note to the CIS Executive Committee notifying it of the aforesaid resolutions of the Parliament of Georgia and Georgia s withdrawal from CIS 46 In accordance with the CIS Charter sec 1 art 9 47 Georgia s withdrawal came into effect 12 months later on 18 August 2009 48 49 Moldova Edit In light of Russia s support for the independence of occupied regions within Moldova Georgia and Ukraine 50 51 52 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 53 54 55 A similar bill was proposed in January 2018 56 57 On 14 June 2022 Moldovan Minister of Foreign Affairs Nicu Popescu said the Moldovan government was considering the prospect of leaving the CIS although at the end of May President Maia Sandu had said the country would not leave for the time being 58 An August 2021 poll conducted in Moldova prior to the start of Russia s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine found that 48 1 of respondents supported Moldova s withdrawal from the CIS 59 On 30 November 2022 Popescu stated that Moldova will suspend its participation in CIS meetings 60 and on 23 February 2023 stated that Moldova has started denouncing multiple treaties that the country signed with the CIS as his country aims to join the European Union 61 Politics Edit Meeting of CIS leaders in Bishkek 2008 Human rights Edit 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 goodwill but on 26 May 1995 the CIS adopted a Commonwealth of Independent States Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms 62 In 1991 four years before the 1995 human rights treaty article 33 of the Charter of the CIS created a Human Rights Commission with its seat in Minsk Belarus This was confirmed by the 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 modelled 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 to 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 In turn this has led to little to no scrutiny by Russia when it comes to the situation of human rights in other CIS member states The Commonwealth of Independent States continues to face serious challenges in meeting even basic international standards 63 Military Edit Main articles United Armed Forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States 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 Defence 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 defence 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 defence 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 the approximation of the legal acts in the area of defence and military development citation needed 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 64 65 66 Nazarbayev s 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 65 67 An important manifestation of integration processes in the area of military and defence 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 68 When Boris Yeltsin became Russian Defence Minister on 7 May 1992 Yevgeny Shaposhnikov was appointed as Commander in Chief of the CIS Armed Forces Russian Obedinyonnye zhyonnye sily SNG 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 69 on the northern outskirts of Moscow 70 Shaposhnikov resigned in June 1993 In December 1993 the CIS Armed Forces Headquarters was abolished 71 Instead the CIS Council of Defence Ministers created a CIS Military Cooperation Coordination Headquarters MCCH in Moscow with 50 percent of the funding provided by Russia 72 General Viktor Samsonov was appointed as Chief of Staff The headquarters has now moved to 101000 Moskva Sverchkov pereulok 3 2 and 41 Leningradsky Prospekt has now been taken over by another Russian MOD agency Economy Edit Main article Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Area See also Economy of the Soviet Union In 1994 negotiations were initiated between the CIS countries on establishing a free trade area FTA but no agreement was signed A proposed free trade agreement would have covered all twelve then CIS members and treaty parties except Turkmenistan 73 In 2009 a new agreement was begun to create a FTA the CIS Free Trade Agreement CISFTA citation needed 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 74 75 76 however by the end of 2012 Kazakhstan Armenia and Moldova had also completed ratification 77 78 In December 2013 Uzbekistan signed and then ratified the treaty 79 80 while the remaining two signatories Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan later both ratified the treaty in January 2014 and December 2015 respectively 81 82 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 several goods but also contains a number of exemptions that will ultimately be phased out citation needed An agreement was also signed on the basic principles of currency regulation and currency controls in the CIS at the same October 2011 meeting citation needed Corruption and bureaucracy are serious problems for trade in CIS countries 83 Kazakhstan s President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed that CIS members take up a digitization agenda to modernize CIS economies 84 Common Economic SpaceAfter a 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 Kyiv 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 citation needed 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 had shown renewed interest in Ukrainian membership in the European Union and such membership would be incompatible with the envisioned common economic space citation needed 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 following WTO principles 85 Ukraine has been a WTO member since 2008 85 A Customs Union of Belarus Kazakhstan and Russia was thus created in 2010 86 A single market had been envisioned for 2012 citation needed but instead the customs union was renamed as the Eurasian Customs Union and expanded to include Armenia and Kyrgyzstan in 2015 Economic data 87 Country Population 2021 GDP USD GDP growth 2012 GDP per capita Human DevelopmentIndex 2019 2007 2012 2007 2012 2020Belarus 9 578 167 45 275 738 770 65 685 000 000 4 3 4 656 6 940 6 411 0 823Kazakhstan 19 196 465 104 849 915 344 196 642 000 000 5 2 6 805 11 700 9 122 0 825Kyrgyzstan 6 527 743 3 802 570 572 6 197 000 000 0 8 711 1 100 1 174 0 697Russia 145 102 755 1 294 381 844 081 2 022 000 000 000 3 4 9 119 14 240 10 127 0 824Tajikistan 9 750 064 3 695 939 000 7 263 000 000 2 1 526 960 859 0 668Uzbekistan 34 081 449 22 355 214 805 63 622 000 000 4 1 831 2 137 1 686 0 720Azerbaijan 10 312 992 33 049 426 816 71 043 000 000 3 8 3 829 7 500 4 214 0 756Moldova 3 061 506 4 401 137 824 7 589 000 000 4 4 1 200 2 100 4 551 0 750Armenia 2 790 974 9 204 496 419 10 551 000 000 2 1 2 996 3 500 4 268 0 776Associated organisations Edit An Euler diagram showing the relationships among various supranational organisations in the territory of the former Soviet Unionv d e Organisation of Central Asian Cooperation Edit Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan formed the OCAC in 1991 as Central Asian Commonwealth CAC citation needed The organisation continued in 1994 as the Central Asian Economic Union CAEU in which Tajikistan and Turkmenistan did not participate In 1998 it became the Central Asian Economic Cooperation CAEC which marked the return of Tajikistan On 28 February 2002 it was renamed to its current name Russia joined on 28 May 2004 88 On 7 October 2005 it was decided between the member states that Uzbekistan will join citation needed the Eurasian Economic Community and that the organisations will merge 89 The organisations joined on 25 January 2006 It is not clear what will happen to the status of current CACO observers that are not observers to EurAsEC Georgia and Turkey Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations Edit Main article Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations The post Soviet disputed states of Abkhazia Artsakh South Ossetia and Transnistria are all members of the Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations which aims to forge closer integration among the members Other activities EditElection monitoring Edit The CIS Election Monitoring Organisation Russian Missiya nablyudatelej ot SNG na vyborah is an election monitoring body that was formed in October 2002 following a Commonwealth of Independent States heads of states meeting which adopted the Convention on the Standards of Democratic Elections Electoral Rights and Freedoms in the Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States The CIS EMO has been sending election observers to member countries of the CIS since this time citation needed ControversiesThe election monitoring body has approved many elections which have been heavily criticised by independent observers 90 The democratic nature of the final round of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election which followed the Orange Revolution and brought into power the former opposition was questioned by the CIS while the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe OSCE found no significant problems This was the first time that the CIS observation teams challenged the validity of an election saying that it should be considered illegitimate On 15 March 2005 the Ukrainian Independent Information Agency quoted Dmytro Svystkov a spokesman of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry that Ukraine has suspended its participation in the CIS election monitoring organization citation needed The CIS praised the Uzbekistan parliamentary elections 2005 as legitimate free and transparent while the OSCE had referred to the Uzbek elections as having fallen significantly short of OSCE commitments and other international standards for democratic elections 91 92 Moldovan authorities refused to invite CIS observers in the 2005 Moldovan parliamentary elections an action Russia criticised Many dozens such observers from Belarus and Russia were stopped from reaching Moldova 93 CIS observers monitored the Tajikistan parliamentary elections 2005 and in the end declared them legal free and transparent The same elections were pronounced by the OSCE to have failed international standards for democratic elections citation needed Soon after CIS observers hailed the Kyrgyz parliamentary elections of 2005 as well organized free and fair as large scale and often violent demonstrations broke out throughout the country protesting what the opposition called a rigged parliamentary election In contrast the OSCE reported that the elections fell short of international standards in many areas 94 International observers of the Interparliamentary Assembly stated the 2010 local elections in Ukraine were organised well 95 While the Council of Europe uncovered a number of problems in relation to a new electorate law approved just prior to the elections 95 and the Obama administration criticised the conduct of the elections saying they did not meet standards for openness and fairness 96 97 Russian language status Edit Russia has urged that the Russian language receive official status in all of the CIS member states So far Russian is an official language in only four states Russia Belarus Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan Russian is also considered an official language in the region of Transnistria and the autonomous region of Gagauzia in Moldova Viktor Yanukovych the Moscow supported presidential candidate in the controversial 2004 Ukrainian presidential election declared his intention to make Russian an official second language of Ukraine However the Western supported candidate Viktor Yushchenko who eventually won successfully opposed the idea citation needed After his early 2010 election President Yanukovych stated on 9 March 2010 Ukraine will continue to promote the Ukrainian language as its only state language 98 Sports events Edit At the time of the Soviet Union s dissolution in December 1991 its sports teams had been invited to or qualified for various 1992 sports events A joint CIS team took its place in some of these The Unified Team competed in the 1992 Winter Olympics and 1992 Summer Olympics and a CIS association football team competed in UEFA Euro 1992 A CIS bandy team played some friendlies in January 1992 and made its last appearance at the 1992 Russian Government Cup where it also played against the new Russia national bandy team The Soviet Union bandy championship for 1991 1992 was rebranded as a CIS championship citation needed Since then the CIS members have each competed separately in international sports citation needed In 2017 a festival for national sports and games known as the Festival of National Sports and Games of the Commonwealth of Independent States Russian Festival nacionalnyh vidov sporta i igr gosudarstv uchastnikov Sodruzhestva Nezavisimyh Gosudarstv was held in Ulyanovsk The main sports were sambo tug of war mas wrestling gorodki belt wrestling lapta bandy rink kettlebell lifting chess and archery A few demonstration sports were also a part of the programme 99 Cultural events Edit The CIS has also been a relevant forum to support cultural relations between former Soviet republics In 2006 the Council of the Heads of Governments of the CIS launched the Intergovernmental Foundation for Educational Scientific and Cultural Cooperation IFESCCO 100 IFESSCO has substantially relied on Russia s financial support since its creation and supported several multilateral cultural events including the CIS Capital of Culture initiative 101 In 2017 the Armenian city of Goris was declared the CIS Cultural Capital of the year Life expectancy Edit Life expectancy at birth in the countries of CIS in 2020 according to the World Bank Group 102 103 104 Countries all male female gendergap D 2019all D 2019male D 2019female D 2019gen gap Belarus 74 23 69 30 79 40 10 10 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00Armenia 72 17 67 05 77 00 9 94 3 27 3 35 2 86 0 49Kyrgyzstan 71 80 67 80 76 00 8 20 0 20 0 20 0 20 0 00Kazakhstan 71 37 67 09 75 53 8 44 1 81 1 73 1 77 0 04Russia 71 34 66 49 76 43 9 94 1 75 1 75 1 74 0 01Uzbekistan 70 33 67 88 72 79 4 91 1 01 0 91 1 09 0 19Moldova 70 17 65 69 74 85 9 16 0 77 0 69 0 77 0 08Turkmenistan 68 69 65 39 71 98 6 59 0 31 0 16 0 48 0 32Tajikistan 67 99 66 00 70 17 4 17 2 87 2 86 2 84 0 02Azerbaijan 66 87 62 99 71 00 8 01 6 23 7 24 4 83 2 41 Life expectancy at birth in countries of CIS since 1960 Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in countries of CIS in 2019 Elaboration by genderSee also Edit Asia portal Europe portal Politics portal Russia portalCollective Security Treaty Organization Eurasianism Russian world Comecon Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations Eastern Bloc Eurasian Economic Union Lublin Triangle Post Soviet states Unified TeamNotes Edit Russian Sodruzhestvo Nezavisimyh Gosudarstv SNG tr Sodruzhestvo Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv SNGReferences Edit Taylor amp Francis 2020 Republic of Crimea The Territories of the Russian Federation 2020 Routledge ISBN 978 1 003 00706 7 Archived from the original on 24 January 2023 Retrieved 20 August 2021 Note The territories of the Crimean peninsula 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