Commonwealth of Independent States

Context and Genesis

The demise of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991 led the republics to confront the economic and political realities facing them collectively. After years of domination by the Soviet Union, the constituent republics had a high level of interdependence and varying levels of experience in governing their own affairs. The various republics had developed economic specializations predicated on the Soviet Union's series of Five Year Plans addressing economic development and production quotas.

This led to intrarepublic dependence on goods from newly independent countries that were formerly produced under the auspices of a single state. Formerly domestic trade had become international, necessitating the development of new agreements and bodies to govern disputes.

The organization was formed on December 8, 1991, by Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine through the Minsk Agreement. The group expanded to encompass another nine former Soviet republics with the Alma-Ata (now Almaty) Protocol on December 21, 1991. (Turkmenistan gave up full membership, opting for associate member status in 2005; see Table 1.)

The Charter of the CIS called for developing close ties and resolving disputes in several arenas, including the political, military, economic, social, and cultural. Article 2 of the Charter focuses on the settling of conflicts between Commonwealth states, while Article 17 requires members to resolve disagreements through negotiations and discussion or alternative procedures. The Charter allows for appeal to the Council of Heads of State if attempts to resolve the dispute fail.

Military Cooperation

Originally, military cooperation was to run through the CIS Joint Armed Forces High Command (formed in 1992). The structure was reformed in 1993 as the Coordinating Staff. The divergent geopolitical goals of the member states have led to problems. Key issues include the drive by the governments of Ukraine and Georgia to align their countries with security organizations such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) over the the question of objections by the Russian Federation and Russian actions in the breakaway Georgian provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) was formed out of the CIS effort. The treaty was signed in 1992 by Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Belarus joined in 1993, and the treaty came into force in 1994. The treaty was to last for 5 years initially. Three countries—Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Uzbekistan—declined to extend the treaty. The three states were joined by Ukraine and [Page 537]Moldova in withdrawing from the Commonwealth's collective Security and Economic Cooperation Pact. Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine withdrew to reduce dependency on Russian supplied energy, while the others sought to find alternative routes for oil and natural gas pipelines. The departure of these five countries leaves the Russian Federation in a dominant position vis-à-vis the other CIS members.

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