End of the Soviet Union
The signing ceremony at Viskuly Government House in the Belarusian Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park, 8 December 1991
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| Type | Treaty establishing a loose regional organisation |
|---|---|
| Signed | 8 December 1991 |
| Location |
De facto: Białowieża ForestDe jure: Minsk, Belarus
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| Effective | 12 December 1991 |
| Signatories |
 Boris Yeltsin Leonid Kravchuk Stanislav Shushkevich
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| Parties |
Russia Ukraine Belarus
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| Depositary | Minsk, Belarus |
The Belavezha Accords (Russian: Беловежские соглашения, Belarusian: Белавежскае пагадненне, Ukrainian: Біловезькі угоди) is the agreement that declared the Soviet Union effectively dissolved and established the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in its place. It was signed at the state dacha near Viskuli in Belovezhskaya Pushcha on December 8, 1991, by the leaders of three of the four republics-signatories of the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR — Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Ukrainian president Leonid Kravchuk and Belarusian parliament chairman Stanislav Shushkevich.
The name is variously transliterated as Belavezh Accords, Belovezh Accords, Belovezha Accords, Belavezha Agreement, Belovezhskaya Accord, Belaya Vezha Accord, etc.
While doubts remained over the authority of the leaders of three of the 12 remaining republics (the three Baltic republics had seceded in August) to dissolve the Union, according to Article 72 of the 1977 Soviet Constitution, Soviet republics had the right to secede freely from the Union. On December 12, 1991 the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR ratified the accords on behalf of Russia and at the same time denounced the 1922 Treaty on the Creation of the Soviet Union. While this is sometimes noted as the moment that the largest republic in the Soviet Union effectively seceded, this is not the case. Rather, the RSFSR appeared to take the line that it was not possible to secede from an entity that no longer existed.
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