Commonwealth of independent States

Commonwealth of Independent States Содружество Независимых Государств
Flag Emblem
Administrative center	Minsk
Largest city	Moscow, Baku, Minsk
Official language	Russian
Type	Regional organization
Membership	9 member states  Armenia  Azerbaijan  Belarus  Kazakhstan  Kyrgyzstan  Moldova  Russia  Tajikistan  Uzbekistan 2 associate states  Turkmenistan  Ukraine
Leaders
• Executive Secretary	Sergei Lebedev
• Presidency	Kyrgyzstan
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	20,996,932 km2 (8,106,961 sq mi)
Population
• 2008 estimate	276,917,629
• Density	12.53/km2 (32.5/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)	2007 estimate
• Total	US$2,906.944 billion
• Per capita	US$10,498
GDP (nominal)	2013 estimate
• Total	US$2,808.844 billion
• Per capita	US$10,113
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)
Website www.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 British Commonwealth of Nations), is a regional organization formed during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Nine out of the 15 former Soviet Republics are member states, and two are associate members (Ukraine and Turkmenistan). Georgia withdrew its membership in 2008, while the Baltic states (Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia) refused to participate.

The CIS has few supranational powers, but aims to be more than a purely symbolic organization, nominally possessing coordinating powers in the realm 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 CIS overview, namely the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Eurasian Economic Union (alongside subdivisions, the Eurasian Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Space, which comprises the land of over 180 million people), and the Union State. While the first and the second are military and economic alliances, the latter aims to reach a confederation between Russia and Belarus, with a common government, flag, currency, etc.