- Member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States
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Member states
There are 10 member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Membership status of CIS countries
See also: Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations, GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development, and TRACECAThe Creation Agreement remained the main constituent document of the CIS until January 1993, when the CIS Charter (Russian: Устав, Ustav) was adopted.[1] The charter formalized the concept of membership: a member country is defined as a country that ratifies the CIS Charter (sec. 2, art. 7). Turkmenistan has not ratified the charter and changed its CIS standing to associate member as of 26 August 2005 in order to be consistent with its UN-recognized international neutrality status.[2][3] Although Ukraine was one of the three founding countries and ratified the Creation Agreement in December 1991, Ukraine did not choose to ratify the CIS Charter and is not a member of the CIS.[4][5]
Country Signed Ratified Charter ratified Membership Status 
Armenia21 December 1991 1992-02-18 1994-03-16 official member 
Azerbaijan21 December 1991 1993-09-24 1993-12-14 official member 
Belarus8 December 1991 1991-12-10 1994-01-18 official member 
Kazakhstan21 December 1991 1991-12-23 1994-04-20 official member 
Kyrgyzstan21 December 1991 1992-03-06 1994-04-12 official member 
Moldova21 December 1991 1994-04-08 1994-06-27 official member 
Russia8 December 1991 1991-12-12 1993-07-20 official member 
Tajikistan21 December 1991 1993-06-26 1993-08-04 official member 
Turkmenistan21 December 1991 1991-12-26 Not ratified unofficial associate member 
Ukraine8 December 1991 1991-12-10 Not ratified de facto participating; officially not a member 
Uzbekistan21 December 1991 1992-04-01 1994-02-09 official member Between the years of 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, lastly, Askar Akayev was toppled in Kyrgyzstan. In February 2006, Georgia officially withdrew from the Council of Defense Ministers, with the statement that "Georgia has taken a course to join NATO and it cannot be part of two military structures simultaneously",[6][7] but it remained a full member of the CIS until August 2009, one year after officially withdrawing in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 South Ossetia war.
Former member states
Country Signed Ratified Charter ratified Withdrawn Effective 
Georgia— 3 December 1993 19 April 1994 18 August 2008 17 August 2009 Following the South Ossetian war in 2008, President Saakashvili announced during a public speech in the capital city Tbilisi that Georgia would leave the CIS[8] and the Georgian Parliament voted unanimously (on 14 August 2008) to withdraw from the regional organization.[9] 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.[10] In accordance with the CIS Charter (sec. 1, art. 9),[1] Georgia's withdrawal came into effect 12 months later, on 18 August 2009.[11][12]
References
- ^ a b CIS Charter, 22 January 1993 (unofficial English translation). Russian text here
- ^ Decision on Turkmenistan's associate membership, CIS Executive Committee meeting in Kazan, Russia, 26 August 2005 (Russian).
- ^ Turkmenistan reduces CIS ties to "Associate Member", Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 29 August 2005.
- ^ Ratification status of CIS documents as of 15 January 2008 (Russian)
- ^ September 2008 Statement by Foreign Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Ohryzko, “Ukraine does not recognize the legal personality of this organization, we are not members of the CIS Economic Court, we did not ratify the CIS Statute, thus, we cannot be considered a member of this organization from international legal point of view. Ukraine is a country-participant, but not a member country”
- ^ Georgia opts out of ex-Soviet military cooperation body - Pravda.Ru
- ^ RIA Novosti - World - Georgia's quitting CIS council will not affect security - Russian minister
- ^ Georgia intends to leave the CIS on CNN.com, 12 August 2008.
- ^ Georgian parliament votes to withdraw from CIS on BBC News, 14 August 2008
- ^ Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia on Georgia's withdrawal from CIS, 18 August 2008.
- ^ Georgia's CIS membership terminates in August 2009, press conference of the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov after the meeting of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers, Bishkek, 9 October 2008
- ^ "Georgia Withdraws from Bloc", by Ellen Barry, New York Times, 18 August 2009. Retrieved on 22 August 2009.
Categories:- Member states by organization
- Commonwealth of Independent States
- Member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States
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