free association of sovereign states 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 Dec. 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. ... (100
of 293 words)

Commonwealth of Independent States

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

The main objectives in founding the CIS were to ensure that some measure of economic,
financial, and monetary cooperation continued in order to avert a collapse in inter-republican
trade; to coordinate price liberalization and market reform; to maintain some degree of
coordination in foreign (and especially military) policy, transport, and communications; and to
ensure recognition of borders and thus prevent inter-republican conflicts. CIS decisions are
reached through regular summits of heads of state and the formation of ministerial committees,
with, in theory, all CIS members being equals; however, some members have complained of
Russian domination.
Military matters
Initially, the inherited Soviet army was placed under a unified command. However, the majority
of the republics subsequently set up their own independent forces, and in June 1993 it was
agreed that the unified defence structure should be abolished and replaced by a committee of
joint staff responsible for coordinating military cooperation between the individual states. At a
summit in December 1993 Russia secured bilateral agreements with all members excepting
Moldova, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, giving it ‘the right to oversee military policies’. In 1994 the
CIS successfully negotiated ceasefires in Abkhazia, Georgia, and in the Nagorno-Karabakh
dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, stationing peacekeeping forces in these regions, as
well as in Tajikistan. In January 1996, members unanimously approved plans to create a united
air-defence system; this was viewed as a possible first step towards the creation of a common
security alliance. However, the October 1997 CIS summit, held in Moldova, collapsed in
acrimony, leading to Russia's fears that the body was beginning to fall apart as its member states
started establishing other international ties. In May 2001, CIS leaders agreed to create a 3,000-
strong rapid reaction force, designed to respond to the perceived threat posed by Islamic
militants in Central Asia.

Economic matters
It was originally proposed that CIS members keep a single currency, the rouble, but by 1994 the
majority of republics had introduced their own currencies. In 1994 Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and
Uzbekistan created their own social, economic, and military union. In March 1996, Russia,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan went on to establish even closer economic ties. These four
republics, together with Tajikistan, approved a treaty establishing a Eurasian Economic
Community, modelled on the European Economic Community. One of its goals was the adoption
of a single currency.
From Soviet federalism to the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States

The collapse of Soviet Communism led to dislocation of the Soviet Union, sapped by an
ideological, political and economic crisis. This in turn precipitated the break-up of the empire,
both cause and effect of the end of Communism. The organisations specific to ‘Soviet
federalism’ hastened the implosion of the Soviet Union despite being primarily intended to
consolidate it. One after another the Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs) proclaimed their
sovereignty in the summer of 1991. In December of the same year, some of these republics,
which had become independent in the meantime, redefined their respective links by creating the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Lenin and Soviet federalism

In 1917 the Communist revolutionaries aimed to end capitalism and the centralised despotism of
the Tsarist regime. After a brief period of government by the democratic coalition following the
revolution of spring 1917, the Bolshevik Party(1), a Marxist revolutionary party led by Lenin,
gradually seized the majority in the workers’ and peasants’ political organisations referred to as
soviets. With the revolution of 25 October the party finally overthrew the provisional
government. Lenin ended the centralised power that had characterised the Tsarist empire by
organising the new Soviet State along federal lines. By taking account of the various nations and
ethnic groups occupying the vast area controlled by the Bolsheviks, Lenin established a form of
federalism with several tiers, giving a degree of autonomy to the various ‘Soviet nations’. The
Constitution of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), dated 10 July 1918,
marked the birth of the first Soviet State. This federal State comprised the Soviet Socialist
Republic (SSR) of Russia, several Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics (ASSR), Autonomous
Regions and Autonomous Districts. Different degrees of competence and autonomy were
invested in the various federal bodies. Once the RSFSR had been formed, Lenin encouraged the
formation of new SSRs following the example of the RSFSR across all the territories of by the
former Russian empire.

New Soviet Republics thus sprang up at the instigation of national revolutionary governments.
On 10 March 1919, the Seventh Congress of the Soviets of Ukraine adopted a Constitution
modelled on the RSFSR. In Belarus, the First Congress of the Soviets adopted a Soviet-style
Constitution in February 1919. SSRs were also formed in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, but they
disappeared in 1919 when Soviet forces collapsed. In the Caucasus, Soviet Republics were
established in 1920 in Azerbaijan and Armenia. In contrast, Georgia retained its Menshevik(2)
Government which would not recognise the authority of the Bolsheviks. The conflict was settled
by the Red Army’s incursion into Georgia to counter the Menshevik regime. Constitutions based
on the RSFSR model were adopted by the SSRs of Azerbaijan (19 May 1921), Armenia
(2 February 1922) and Georgia (28 February). From 1920, the RSFSR was the de facto dominant
force over the other republics in political, military, economic and demographic terms(3).

The birth of the Soviet Union (30 December 1922)

With the final victory of the Bolsheviks over the Mensheviks, liberals and ‘whites’(4), Lenin
wanted to strengthen and codify the links between the various SSRs. On 10 August 1922, a
committee chaired by Stalin, the People’s Commissar of Nationalities, was formed to draw up a
plan for a federal State. The plan, presented on 10 September 1922, proposed that the SSRs
should be absorbed into the RSFSR. Stalin wanted Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia and
Azerbaijan to become an integral part of the RSFSR in their capacity as autonomous entities.
The republics were not at all in favour of this approach, the most outright hostility being voiced
by the Communist leaders of the Caucasus(5). In the end Lenin intervened, taking into account
the views of the various SSRs and agreeing to the adoption, on 13 December 1922, of the
Constitution of the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, comprising the
Republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, by the first Congress of the Soviets of
Transcaucasia.

On 30 December 1922 the first Congress of Soviets(6) created the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (USSR) by adopting the Treaty and Declaration of Union between the four republics
(RSFSR, SSRs of Ukraine and Belarus, SFSR of Transcaucasia). Finally the RSFSR did not
absorb the other constituent parts and each republic kept its own Constitution. Scarcely a year
later the Treaty and Declaration of Union(7) were replaced by the second Constitution of the
Soviet Union, the Lenin-Trotsky Constitution. The ‘common text on the creation of the Soviet
Union’ was ratified on 31 January 1924 by the second Congress of Soviets.

The USSR comprised several federal republics with borders defined on the basis of the
demographic distribution of a ‘people’, in its Soviet definition. The Lenin-Trotsky Constitution
of 1924 enshrined, in formal terms, the union of sovereign nations with equal rights. It granted to
the SSRs the right of secession (Article 4) as well as allowing new Socialist Republics to join the
Union (preamble). During the 1920s many territorial changes occurred with borders being
redrawn and the formation of several ASSRs inside the SSRs(8). In addition, three new federal
republics were created (the SSRs of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, previously part of the
RSFSR, then the SSR of Tajikistan, which was separated from Uzbekistan).

The third Soviet Constitution, adopted on 5 December 1936 and known as the Stalin
Constitution, redefined federal bodies and the government of the USSR, giving Moscow greater
power over the other SSRs. In addition to concentrating greater powers in the hands of the
federal leadership of the Communist Party, the interests of the USSR increasingly merged with
those of the RSFSR.

Under the 1936 Constitution, the number of federal republics rose from seven to eleven. The
RSSF of Transcaucasia was disbanded and Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan were integrated
directly into the USSR in the form of SSRs. Two new republics were also formed, the SSRs of
Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

In 1940, following the outbreak of the Second World War, other SSRs were formed by
incorporating previously independent States (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia). Some time before,
on 12 October 1924, the USSR had established the Moldavian ASSR, which was part of the SSR
of Ukraine. This particular ASSR officially granted many rights to the Romanian minority of
Ukraine and, according to Stalin, would ‘foreshadow what would one day become Soviet
Romania’. In August 1940, following the Germano-Soviet pact of 1939, the Moldavian ASSR
was converted into the SSR of Moldavia, becoming a federal entity of the USSR. In 1956, the
SSR of Karelia, an area once part of Finland but annexed by the USSR in 1940, became a part of
the RSFSR as the ASSR of Karelia. No further changes were made to the organisation of the
USSR until its final collapse.

The federal organisation of the USSR (1956–1990)

The organisation of the USSR continued without any structural changes from 1956 to 1990. The
Soviet federal State comprised 15 federal entities, the SSRs. As sovereign republics, they kept
their own constitution and were divided into regions (or oblasts), except for Latvia, Lithuania,
Estonia and Moldavia which had a unitary structure. Some federal republics (Russia, Georgia,
Armenia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan) contained ASSRs that enjoyed a degree of self-government.
Furthermore, some territories in the RSFSR itself and the SSRs of Tajikistan, Georgia and
Azerbaijan were given the status of autonomous regions.

Of the four Soviet Constitutions, it was the third one, adopted in 1936, that was in force for the
longest time. It was only replaced on 7 October 1977 when the Supreme Soviet(9) of the USSR
unanimously adopted the fourth and final Soviet Constitution, referred to as the ‘Fundamental
Law of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics’. Article 70 of the Brezhnev Constitution states
that the USSR is an integral, federal, multinational State formed on the principle of socialist
federalism. It also states that the USSR is the result of the free self-determination of nations and
the voluntary association of equal Soviet Socialist Republics. Article 72 recalls that each
republic ‘shall retain the right freely to secede from the USSR’.

Towards secession of the Soviet Socialist Republics

As long as the Soviet Communist regime was able to contain and control the civic and social
demands of the peoples of the various SSRs, no one questioned the underlying need for the
Union. The policy of the Party leadership naturally sought to maintain a cohesive whole,
whereas each national group tried to obtain the most advantages. To achieve its aims, the Party
leadership used the various resources at its disposal, granting loans and allocating varying
degrees of cultural autonomy. At the same time it acted to repress ‘exaggerated nationalism’ if
the central power loosened its grip. The national factor consequently encouraged decentralisation
of power. However the Kremlin was careful to ensure that the limits set by the central power
were not exceeded.

Until the mid-1980s Moscow repressed any movements deemed to be ‘exaggerated nationalism’,
which sometimes degenerated into sporadic uprisings and civil war. When the process of
democratic reform set in motion by Gorbachev undermined the central Soviet power base and its
outposts in the SSRs, nationalist movements cited Articles 70 and 72 of the 1977 Constitution to
back their demands for greater autonomy or even independence.

In the Baltic countries, which had been fought over for centuries by the Slavs, Germans and
Swedes, and had been independent from 1920 to 1939, revolts occurred throughout the
Communist era. Inspired by the hopes of independence voiced by the Eastern Bloc countries and
encouraged by the establishment of a semi-democratic government in Poland, demonstrations in
favour of a return to independence were held simultaneously in the three Baltic countries
between 1988 and 1989. Particularly violent demands also surfaced in the Transcaucasian
republics, which recalled their past history of independence, sometimes spanning several
centuries. When the national popular fronts first threatened to invoke Article 70 of the
Constitution, they were really asking Moscow for an end to the dominance of the central powers
and the RSFSR over the other SSRs.

Confronted with a difficult political and economic situation, Gorbachev endorsed the
constitutional reform of 1 December 1988, which allowed multiple candidates for the next
elections. The new Legislative Assembly, elected on 26 March 1989, consequently sought to
restore the legitimacy of the central power and consolidate the Union. Two thirds of the
Congress of People’s Deputies were now elected by universal suffrage, with a secret ballot and
several candidates. But the first free general election was marked by defeat for candidates
sympathetic to Gorbachev and the election of radical and nationalist reformers. The arrival in the
Supreme Soviet of representatives of national popular fronts, such as the Sajudis from Lithuania,
revealed the scale of the disaster facing Gorbachev. The nationalists gained a formidable
platform from which to promote their ideas of independence and national liberation. By allowing
national movements to express themselves freely, the democratisation of the regime fuelled
tension, which in turn caused unrest and even civil war between peoples nursing deep-rooted
enmity, such as the Orthodox Armenians and the Muslim Azeris.

To thwart nationalist forces and secure the survival of the USSR in one way or another,
Gorbachev tried to rally the republics around a new proposed Union. The new Union would
serve as a basis for the renewal of Soviet federalism as part of an increasingly democratic USSR.
The new Treaty was well received in the Central Asian republics, which above all wanted the
economic support of the RSFSR and access to the markets of the USSR. In March 1991
Gorbachev called a referendum(10) on the future of the Soviet Union in nine republics(11). The
electorate voted in favour of the New Union Treaty. Armenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Georgia and Moldova, governed by their respective national popular fronts, did not take part in
the referendum. In April 1991, at the summit of Novo-Ogaryovo, Gorbachev and the leaders of
the nine republics decided to speed up the establishment of the New Union Treaty. Gorbachev
thought that if an initial group of SSRs signed the new Treaty it would encourage the other
republics to follow suit.

The Commonwealth of Independent States, an inter-state organisation with mixed achievements

On 19 August 1991, on the eve of the signing of the Union Treaty by Russia, Kazakhstan and
Uzbekistan, but before the six other republics in favour of reforming the Union had declared
their support, a coup d’état took place in Moscow, launched by a group of conservatives(12) who
could not accept the risk that the USSR might break up. They decided to depose Gorbachev, who
was on holiday in the Crimea at the time, replace him as Head of State by the Vice-President
Gennady Yanayev, declare a state of emergency and restore censorship. Boris Yeltsin, who had
been elected President of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR by universal suffrage on 12 June
1991 with a large majority (53.7 % of the vote), thwarted the coup. He called for a general strike,
rallying troops and leading demonstrations against the coup leaders. The latter were swiftly
arrested.

Gorbachev returned to Moscow on 27 August after the failure of the coup d’état, but he did not
regain his position of power. From then on it was Yeltsin who held all the cards. In June 1991 he
had convinced the Russian Supreme Soviet to adopt a text proclaiming the superiority of Russian
law over its Soviet counterpart. On 12 June 1991, the day he was elected President of Russia,
Yeltsin declared the sovereignty of Russia and resigned from the Communist Party. The party
was forbidden in the army and state bodies, and he later had it suspended. Gorbachev resigned as
General Secretary of the Communist Party. The RSFSR, a pillar of the USSR, distanced itself
from the authority of the Kremlin.

Encouraged by the failure of the coup, the Congress of Deputies of the USSR granted substantial
powers to the republics, the ‘centre’ only retaining control over foreign and defence policy. But
the republics were increasingly reluctant to accept any limitation on their sovereignty. Central
government having lost its authority, demands for independence were heard on all sides,
rendering the ultimate dislocation of the USSR inevitable.

Lithuania was the first SSR to declare its independence on 11 March 1991. Estonia and Latvia
followed suit on 20 and 21 August respectively, during the attempted coup in Moscow. In the
Caucasus, Georgia was the first to declare independence on 9 April 1991, followed by
Azerbaijan on 30 August 1991 and Armenia on 23 September 1991. One after another the
federal entities of the Soviet Union declared independence: Ukraine on 24 August 1991, Belarus
on 25 August, Moldova on 27 August, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan on 31 August, Tajikistan on
9 September, Turkmenistan on 27 September and finally Kazakhstan on 16 December. Secession
by Ukraine on 1 December 1991 and its refusal to sign the Union Treaty signalled the ultimate
demise of the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev, still President of the USSR — having been elected on 1 March 1990 by the Soviet
deputies after obtaining the necessary amendment to the Constitution — tried, in vain, to have a
treaty of economic union adopted. On 3 December he issued a dramatic appeal to prevent
disintegration of the Union. On 8 December, however, the Presidents of Russia, Belarus and
Ukraine, meeting in Minsk, decided that ‘the Soviet Union as a geopolitical reality and a subject
of international law has ceased to exist’. They signed an accord establishing a Commonwealth of
Sovereign States open to all the States of the former USSR. Gorbachev had no option but to
endorse this solution. On 21 December, at a meeting in Alma-Ata(13), eight other republics
joined the initial three. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) thus came to be
established. It comprised 11 republics: Armenia, Azerbaijan (formal membership in 1993),
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova (formal membership in 1994), Uzbekistan (formal
membership in 1992), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Ukraine. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
and Georgia refused to sign the Declaration of Alma-Ata. The same day, the 11 signatories
informed Gorbachev that the USSR and his role as President had ceased to exist. Gorbachev
resigned on 25 December.

The role of the Commonwealth of Independent States

The CIS is a loosely bound, inter-state organisation, comprising some but not all of the former
SSRs of the Soviet Union. Following in the footsteps of the former Eastern Bloc countries, the
Baltic States were determined to move closer to the West. The logical conclusion of this trend
came with membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the European Union in
2004.

The CIS Charter, which sets forth the basic rules for its operation, was adopted in 1993. That
same year, the Member States signed an Agreement on Economic Union in order to develop
economic and trade cooperation. In 1993 the increasingly unsettled political situation in
Abkhazia and the region of Tskhinvali forced Georgia to apply for CIS membership.

Between 1994 and 1999 the CIS, with its headquarters in Minsk, was paralysed by tensions
between Member States. Following a Russian initiative the executive bodies of the CIS were
reformed in the first decade of the 21st century to give it renewed impetus. But most of the
projects launched within the framework of the CIS have come to nothing. The 1992 Collective
Security Treaty, which was signed by Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Russia and Tajikistan, purports to enshrine the military strength of the
CIS. Its official aim is to combat terrorism and organised crime. But the Collective Security
Treaty Organisation (CSTO) is often seen as an instrument designed to guarantee Russian
control over its ‘near abroad’. Azerbaijan and Georgia, which signed the original Treaty, have
left the CSTO. Uzbekistan also left, but, yielding to Russian pressure, rejoined the organisation
in early 2006.

Despite the patent failure of the CIS, some former Soviet Republics maintain trade links through
the Eurasian Economic Community, established in October 2000 between Belarus, Russia,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. In September 2003 Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and
Kazakhstan signed an agreement setting up a Common Economic Space.

Since its inception, several States have opted to leave the CIS(14) prompted by fears of Russian
interference in their domestic affairs. Ukraine gave up membership when it rejected the
organisation’s Charter on 22 January 1993. In accordance with the Charter, Turkmenistan
applied for observer status within the CIS in 2005. But its application has been held up by the
Council of Heads of State, so Turkmenistan is still officially a full member. On 14 August 2008,
following the Russian intervention in Georgia and the conflict in South Ossetia, the Georgian
Parliament voted to take Georgia out of the CIS.

The Commonwealth of Independent States and the legacy of the Soviet Union

The CIS was originally also intended to settle the problems posed by unravelling of the Soviet
legacy (nationalities, territory, legacy of the Soviet state apparatus, etc.). In practice, the Russian
Federation took over the Soviet legacy: the Kremlin, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, single
command of strategic nuclear weapons, the seat as a Permanent Member of the United Nations
Security Council, gold and diamond reserves, and oil resources. In return, Russia recognised the
inviolability of frontiers with its partner states, which was important for countries with large
Russian minorities (such as Ukraine and Kazakhstan). When the USSR collapsed, the borders
between former SSRs were not officially disputed, but as soon as it started to disintegrate, some
Autonomous Republics and Regions started demanding self-government or independence from
the former SSRs.

Nationalist movements, unleashed by the break-up of the USSR and exacerbated by religious
conflicts, sapped the independence of recently formed States, particularly in the Caucasus. Under
the Constitution of the USSR, SSRs could secede from the USSR. But the individual
constitutions of the SSRs did not grant similar rights to their Autonomous Republics and
Regions. When the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh(15), an autonomous region that
was part of the SSR of Azerbaijan, proclaimed its independence, it dealt a serious blow to
Armenia, suspected by the international community of providing the self-proclaimed republic
with military logistic support. Sanctions were consequently imposed on Armenia, which,
although it did not officially recognise the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, refused to condemn its
incursions into Azerbaijan, prompting the fall of the regime in power. Heydar Aliyev, a former
apparatchik and the new leader of Azerbaijan, agreed to negotiate with the separatists but to no
avail. The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh has become one of many unresolved conflicts in the
Caucasus.

Since the independence of Georgia, the Abkhaz(16) people have refused to accept the authority
of the Tbilisi government, invoking the right of peoples to self-determination. In this they enjoy
the support of the Chechens(17), themselves in conflict with Moscow(18) for similar reasons, but
also of the Balkars and Kabards(19) who want to establish a Republic of the Peoples of North
Caucasus. The South Ossetians(20) have been disputing their status as part of the Republic of
Georgia since 1989. They want independence, to unite with the North Ossetians(21) whose
territory is inside Russia. This powder keg exploded again on 8 August 2008 when Georgia
invoked the need to protect its territorial integrity and sent in large numbers of troops to restore
the central government’s authority in South Ossetia. This in turn triggered the intervention of the
Russian army, which inflicted heavy losses on the Georgian troops. Georgia consequently left
the CIS.

In conclusion, the downfall of the USSR has given rise to political reconstruction that has yet to
be completed. Despite the efforts of Gorbachev, the break-up of the USSR was inevitable. Given
the right of secession, it was also perfectly legal. The CIS emerged from the ruins of the Union.
Though a confederate organisation, its real aim was to manage the cumbersome legacy of the
Soviet empire. In practice, the Russian Federation is the successor of the USSR. The CIS, which
was supposed to settle post-Soviet conflicts at an intergovernmental level, failed to do so. Nor
has it succeeded in preventing the risks of ‘Balkanisation’ of the Caucasus, particularly as some
parties see the CIS as a natural extension of Russia. From this standpoint, the CIS should be seen
as a phase in the unfinished process of state-building undertaken by the Tsarist empire and the
Soviet Union.

(1) The Bolsheviks (meaning ‘majority’) constituted the majority faction in the Russian Social-
Democratic Workers’ Party, founded in 1903. Under the leadership of Lenin, the Bolsheviks
formed a separate party in 1912. After the Russian revolution of February 1917, the Bolsheviks
seized power in the name of the Soviets in October 1917. In 1922 the party changed its name to
the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).
(2) The Mensheviks (meaning ‘minority’) formed the minority faction in the Russian Social-
Democratic Workers’ Party, when the party split in two at the Congress of London in 1903.
(Banned in the Tsarist empire, exiled Russian Communists held their meetings in Britain and
Germany.) At the Congress of Soviets on 25 October 1917, the Menshevik delegates walked out
rather than endorse the October revolution, which they condemned as a ‘Bolshevik coup’. The
Bolsheviks finally crushed the Mensheviks during the Civil War.
(3) In 1918 the RSFSR took charge of recruitment for the Red Army, to which the armed forces
of the other republics were attached. To facilitate recruitment, single citizenship was established.
(4) Supporters of the monarchy.
(5) Among the Communist leaders in the Caucasus, the Georgians were the most fiercely
opposed to absorption of their country by the RSFSR.
(6) The Congress of Soviets consisted of representatives of urban Soviets and of government
Soviets from each SSR. The assembly was convened once a year to ratify decisions taken by the
members of the Central Executive Committee, to which, in its capacity as a sovereign assembly,
the Congress of Soviets had delegated part of its powers. However its role was soon reduced,
with real power shifting to the leaders of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).
(7) The Treaty and Declaration of Union between the four Socialist Republics became, in the
language of historians, the ‘first Constitution of the USSR’.
(8) ASSRs were formed in the RSFSR and in the Transcaucasian FSSR.
(9) The Supreme Soviet had two chambers, each invested with equal legislative powers. Their
members were elected for a five-year term. The Soviet of the Union was elected on the basis of
population, with one deputy for every 300 000 inhabitants of the Federation. The Soviet of
Nationalities was supposed to represent the various ethnic groups in the Federation. Its members
were elected on the basis of 25 deputies for each SSR, 11 for each ASSR, 5 for each AR and 1
for each oblast. The Supreme Soviet was the highest executive body in the Soviet Union and the
only one empowered to make constitutional amendments.
(10) The referendum also concerned the creation of a President for the USSR.
(11) RSFSR, Belarus, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan.
(12) This group of conservatives consisted of members of the CPSU, the army and the KGB.
(13) Alma-Ata was the capital of the SSR of Kazakhstan. It was renamed Almaty in 1991, and
remained the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 1998, when this distinction was
transferred to Astana.
(14) Since the CIS was established, the post of Executive Secretary has been held exclusively by
Russians and Belarusians.
(15) During the Soviet era, Nagorno-Karabakh enjoyed AR status, as part of the SSR of
Azerbaijan.
(16) During the Soviet era, Abkhazia enjoyed ASSR status, as part of the SSR of Georgia.
(17) During the Soviet era, the area occupied by Chechen and Ingush peoples enjoyed ASSR
status (Chechen and Ingush ASSR), as part of the RSFSR.
(18) At the end of two very destructive wars (1994–1996 and 1999), the Russian Federation
reasserted its authority over Chechnya.
(19) During the Soviet era, the area occupied by Kabards and Balkars enjoyed ASSR status
(Kabardino-Balkarian ASSR), as part of the RSFSR.
(20) During the Soviet era, South Ossetia enjoyed AR status, as part of the SSR of Georgia.
(21) During the Soviet era, North Ossetia enjoyed ASSR status, as part of the RSFSR.

Commonwealth of Independent States - CIS

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) formed when the former Soviet Union (now
called Russia) totally dissolved in 1991.

At its conception it consisted of ten former Soviet Republics: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

The nations of Azerbaijan and Georgia later joined the association in 1993.

This group of states (countries) loosely agreed to work together on a large list of mutual issues,
including economics, defense and foreign policy.

Many of the CIS members receive (buy) their natural gas and oil from the vast reserves owned
by Russia, and that is a front-burner, contentious issue for some as prices and supplies are tightly
controlled in Moscow.

In 2005, Turmenistan withdrew from the CIS, and is now classified as an associate member.

Economic Council
The main executive body which ensures implementation of the decisions of the Council of the
Heads of States and the Council of the Heads of Governments of the Commonwealth of
Independent States on realization of the Agreement for creation of free trade zone, Protocol to it,
as well as for other matters of socio-economic cooperation. The Council adopts the decisions on
the matters related to its competence and by the orders of the Council of the Heads of States and
the Council of the Heads of Governments of the CIS.
Economic Council consists of the Deputy Heads of Governments of states-participants of the
CIS.

It is the unite permanently functioning executive, administrative and coordinating body of the
CIS, which organizes the activities of the Council of the Heads of States, Council of the Heads
of Governments, Council of Foreign Ministers of states - participants of the CIS, Economic
Council and other bodies of the Commonwealth, prepares proposals on extending economic
cooperation in the framework of the CIS, creating and functioning free trade zone, ensuring
favourable conditions for transition to higher stage of economic cooperation, developing
common economic space in future, jointly with the states - participants and the bodies of the
Commonwealth develops proposals and draft documents aimed at the development of states -
participants of the CIS in political, economic, social and other spheres.

Commonwealth of Independent States

Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), community of independent nations established by a

treaty signed at Minsk, Belarus, on Dec. 8, 1991, by the heads of state of Russia, Belarus, and
Ukraine. Between Dec. 8 and Dec. 21, the three original signatories were joined by Armenia,
Azerbaijan (its parliament, however, rejected ratifying its membership until 1993), Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. When Georgia joined in 1993
all of the former republics of the USSR except the Baltic states had become members of the CIS.
Its headquarters are in Minsk.

The organization was conceived as the successor to the USSR in its role of coordinating the
foreign and economic policies of its member nations. The treaty recognized current borders and
each republic's independence, sovereignty, and equality, and established a free-market ruble zone
embracing the republics' interdependent economies and a joint defense force for participating
republics. Strategic nuclear weapons, in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine, were to be
under the joint control of those republics, with day-to-day authority in the hands of the Russian
president and defense minister; Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine, however, no longer possess
such weapons. The CIS at first convened only a council of the heads of state of its members, but
in 1992 it convened a council of heads of government and a council of foreign ministers.

The republics' level of receptivity to integration with Russia has varied. All CIS nations now
have their own currency, and most members have had occasion to criticize Russia for slow
implementation of CIS agreements. Ukraine (which had a prolonged disagreement with Russia
over the disposition of the Black Sea and remains wary of Russian power, particularly after
Russia took sides in the 2004 presidential election), Turkmenistan (whose large gas reserves free
it from dependence on Russia), Azerbaijan (whose oil reserves also allow for independence from
Russia), and Moldova (which faced an insurgency in the Russian-dominated Trans-Dniester
region) have been relatively inactive in the alliance, and in 2005 Turkmenistan became an
associate member. Armenia (surrounded by the Muslim nations of Azerbaijan, Iran, and Turkey),
Georgia (with separatist movements in Abkhazia and South Ossetia), Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
(vulnerable because of its limited natural resources) accepted Russia's protection under a joint
defense system and Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan also signed the Collective
Security Treaty, but Azerbaijan and Georgia have since withdrawn from the defense agreement.
In 2002 the treaty adherents agreed to establish the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO), which superseded the CIS as a forum for military cooperation in 2005. Uzbekistan,
which had suspended its treaty membership in 1998, joined the CSTO in 2006.

Because the CIS has remained essentially a regional forum, progress toward the integration of its
member nations has tended to take place outside the organization. In 1996, Belarus signed a
treaty with Russia to coordinate their defense and foreign policy apparatus and to eliminate trade
restrictions and eventually unite their currencies. Individual sovereignty is to be maintained, but
they created supranational bodies to effect these changes. The two nations have since signed
several follow-up agreements, but actual progress toward integration has been slow. They,
Kazakhstan (which has a large Russian community), and Kyrgyzstan additionally agreed to
pursue economic integration without customs restrictions. Tajikistan later joined the customs
union, which became the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) in 2000. Several other CIS
members are EurAsEC observers. In 2003, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine agreed to
form a Single Economic Space; the treaty was ratified the following year. Meanwhile, concerns
over Russian domination of the CIS prompted Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova to
establish a loose international association; from 1999 to 2005 Uzbekistan also was a member.