CIS election observation missions

Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Содружество Независимых Государств
Flag Emblem
Administrative	Minsk
Largest city	Moscow
Official language	Russian
Type	Confederation
Membership	9 member states  Armenia  Azerbaijan  Belarus  Kazakhstan  Kyrgyzstan  Moldova  Russia  Tajikistan  Uzbekistan 2 associate states  Turkmenistan  Ukraine
Leaders
• Executive Secretary	Sergei Lebedev
• Secretary General	Alexey Sergeev
Legislature	Interparliamentary Assembly
Establishment
• Belavezha Accords	8 December 1991
• Collective Security Treaty Organisation	15 May 1992
• Free trade agreement signed	18 October 2011
• Free Trade Area established	20 September 2012
Area
• Total	22,100,843 km2 (8,533,183 sq mi)
Population
• 2017 estimate	282,214,245
• Density	12.77/km2 (33.1/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)	2016 estimate
• Total	US$5.429 trillion
• Per capita	US$19,238
GDP (nominal)	2013 estimate
• Total	US$2.808 trillion
• Per capita	US$10,113
HDI (2015)	0.734 high
Currency	Member states Armenian dram Azerbaijani manat Belarusian ruble Kazakhstani tenge Kyrgyzstani som Moldovan leu Russian ruble Tajikistani somoni Uzbekistani som Associate states Turkmenistani manat Ukrainian hryvnia
Time zone	(UTC+2 to +12)
Drives on the	right
Website CIS.Minsk.by

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS; Russian: Содружество Независимых Государств, СНГ, tr. Sodruzhestvo Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv, SNG), also called the Russian Commonwealth (to distinguish it from the English-speaking Commonwealth of Nations), is a loose confederation of 9 member states and 2 associate members that are located in Eurasia, formed during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and which were all former Soviet Republics. Georgia withdrew its membership in 2008, while the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), which regard their membership in the Soviet Union as an illegal occupation, chose not to participate.

The CIS has few supranational powers but aims to be more than a purely symbolic organization, nominally possessing coordinating powers in the realms of trade, finance, lawmaking, and security. It has also promoted cooperation on cross-border crime prevention. Furthermore, eight of the nine CIS member states participate in the CIS Free Trade Area. Three organizations are under the overview of the CIS, namely the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Eurasian Economic Union (alongside subdivisions, the Eurasian Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Space, which comprises territory inhabited by over 180 million people), 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, flag, currency, etc.