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Commonwealth of Independent States (in other regional languages)
| |
|---|---|
.svg) Member states Associate state | |
| Administrative seats | |
| Largest city | Moscow |
| Working language | Russian |
| Type | Intergovernmental |
| Membership | 9 member states
1 associate state |
| Leaders | |
• General Secretary | Sergey Lebedev |
| Legislature | Interparliamentary Assembly[1] |
| Establishment | |
| 8 December 1991 | |
| 21 December 1991 | |
| 22 January 1993 | |
| 20 September 2012 | |
| Area | |
• Total | 20,368,759[2] km2 (7,864,422 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 2024 estimate |  245,751,042(including 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 |
| Currency | No common currencya Member states
Associate state |
| Time zone | UTC+2 to +12 |
| Drives on | right |
| Internet TLD | .ru, .by, .am, .kz, .kg, .az, .md, .tj, .uz |
Website e-cis | |
a Soviet ruble (руб) used from 1991 to 1994 | |
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, and is its legal successor. 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, including cross-border crime prevention.
As the Soviet Union disintegrated, Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine signed the Belovezha 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. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania chose not to participate. Georgia withdrew its membership in 2008 following a war with Russia. Ukraine formally ended its participation in CIS statutory bodies in 2018, although it had stopped participating in the organization in 2014 following the Russian annexation of Crimea.[3][4][5] Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moldova voiced its intention to progressively withdraw from the CIS institutional framework.[6][7]
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 and currency.
- ^ "Commonwealth of Independent States – Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus". mfa.gov.by. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
- ^ Corresponds to the terrestrial surface. Including the Exclusive Economic Zones of each member state, the total area is 28 509 317 km².
- ^ Лащенко, Олександр (26 November 2020). "Is Ukraine still in the CIS or not?". Радіо Свобода (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 17 August 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
- ^ "Ukraine Announces Plans To Quit CIS, Terminate Parts Of Russia Friendship Treaty". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 12 April 2018. Archived from the original on 8 July 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
- ^ "There is no "debt" of Ukraine to the CIS — the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine". www.ukrinform.ua (in Ukrainian). 8 August 2019. Archived from the original on 10 July 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
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