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The CIS was formed by the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus (formerly Byelorussia) in Minsk on 8 December 1991. With the exception of Georgia and the Baltic states, other former Soviet republics joined in Alma-Ata on 21 December. Georgia became a member in 1993. The creation of the CIS precipitated the final demise of the Soviet Union. Whilst moves have been made to develop the CIS as the basis of a free trade area or defence pact, progress has been largely determined by bilateral relations between Russia and the separate states.
— Stephen Whitefield
| Russian History Encyclopedia: Commonwealth of Independent States |
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was established on December 8, 1991, in the Belovezh Accords, which also brought an end to the Soviet Union. These accords were signed by leaders from Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, and on December 21, 1991, in the Almaty Delcaration and Proctocol to these accords, eight additional states (Moldavia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkemenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan) confirmed their intention to join the CIS and accept the demise of the Soviet state. Georgia joined the CIS in December 1993, bringing total membership to twelve states (the Baltic republics of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia never joined). The organization had several goals, including coordination of members' foreign and security policies, development of a common economic space, fostering human rights and inter-ethnic concord, maintenance of the military assets of the former USSR, creation of shared transportation and communications networks, environmental security, regulation of migration policy, and efforts to combat organized crime. The CIS had a variety of institutions through which it attempted to accomplish these goals: Council of Heads of State, Council of Heads of Government, Council of Foreign Ministers, Council of Defense Ministers, an inter-parliamentary assembly, Executive Committee, Anti-Terrorism Task Force, and the Interstate Economic Committee of the Economic Union.
Although in a sense the CIS was designed to replace the Soviet Union, it was not and is not a separate state or country. Rather, the CIS is an international organization designed to promote cooperation among its members in a variety of fields. Its headquarters are in Minsk, Belarus. Over the years, its members have signed dozens of treaties and agreements, and some hoped that it would ultimately promote the dynamic development of ties among the newly independent post-Soviet states. By the late 1990s, however, the CIS lost most of its momentum and was victimized by internal rifts, becoming, according to some observers, largely irrelevant and powerless.
From its beginning, the CIS had two main purposes. The first was to promote what was called a "civilized divorce" among the former Soviet states. Many feared the breakup of the Soviet Union would lead to political and economic chaos, if not outright conflict over borders. The earliest agreements of the CIS, which provided for recognition of borders, protection of ethnic minorities, maintenance of a unified military command, economic cooperation, and periodic meetings of state leaders, arguably helped to maintain some semblance of order in the region, although one should note that the region did suffer some serious conflicts (e.g., war between Armenia and Azerbaijan and civil conflicts in Tajikistan, Moldova, and Georgia).
The second purpose of the CIS was to promote integration among the newly independent states. On this score, the CIS had not succeeded. The main reason is that while all parties had a common interest in peacefully dismantling the old order, there has been no consensus among these states as to what (if anything) should replace the Soviet state. Moreover, the need to develop national political and economic systems took precedence in many states, dampening enthusiasm for any project of reintegration. CIS members have also been free to sign or not sign agreements as they see fit, creating a hodgepodge of treaties and obligations among CIS states.
One of the clearest failures of the CIS has been on the economic front. Although the member states pledged cooperation, things began to break down early on. By 1993, the ruble zone collapsed, with each state issuing its own currency. In 1993 and 1994, eleven CIS states ratified a Treaty on an Economic Union (Ukraine joined as an associate member). A free-trade zone was proposed in 1994, but by 2002 it still had not yet been fully established. In 1996 four states (Russia, Belarus, Krygyzstan, Kazakhstan) created a Customs Union, but others refused to join. All these efforts were designed to increase trade, but, due to a number of factors, trade among CIS countries has lagged behind targeted figures. More broadly speaking, economic cooperation has suffered because states had adopted economic reforms and programs with little regard for the CIS and have put more emphasis on redirecting their trade to neighboring European or Asian states.
Cooperation in military matters fared little better. The 1992 Tashkent Treaty on Collective Security was ratified by a mere six states. While CIS peacekeeping troops were deployed to Tajikistan and Abkhazia (a region of Georgia), critics viewed these efforts as Russian attempts to maintain a sphere of influence in these states. As a "Monroeski Doctrine" took hold in Moscow, which asserted special rights for Russia on post-Soviet territory, and Russia used its control over energy pipelines to put pressure on other states, there was a backlash by several states against Russia, which weakened the CIS. After September 11, 2001, the CIS created bodies to help combat terrorism, and some hoped that this might bring new life to the organization.
Bibliography
Heenan, Patrick, and Lamontagne, Monique, eds. (1999). The CIS Handbook. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn.
Olcott, Martha Brill; Aslund, Anders; and Garnett, Sherman. (1999). Getting It Wrong: Regional Cooperation and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Sakwa, Richard, and Webber, Mark. (1999). "The Commonwealth of Independent States, 1991 - 1998: Stagnation and Survival." Europe-Asia Studies 51:379 - 415.
—PAUL J. KUBICEK
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Commonwealth of Independent States |
The organization was conceived as the successor to the USSR in its role of coordinating the foreign and economic policies of its member nations. The treaty recognized current borders and each republic's independence, sovereignty, and equality, and established a free-market ruble zone embracing the republics' interdependent economies and a joint defense force for participating republics. Strategic nuclear weapons, in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine, were to be under the joint control of those republics, with day-to-day authority in the hands of the Russian president and defense minister; Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine, however, no longer possess such weapons. The CIS at first convened only a council of the heads of state of its members, but in 1992 it convened a council of heads of government and a council of foreign ministers.
The republics' level of receptivity to integration with Russia has varied. All CIS nations now have their own currency, and most members have had occasion to criticize Russia for slow implementation of CIS agreements. Ukraine (which had a prolonged disagreement with Russia over the disposition of the Black Sea and remains wary of Russian power, particularly after Russia took sides in the 2004 presidential election), Turkmenistan (whose large gas reserves free it from dependence on Russia), Azerbaijan (whose oil reserves also allow for independence from Russia), and Moldova (which faced an insurgency in the Russian-dominated Trans-Dniester region) have been relatively inactive in the alliance, and in 2005 Turkmenistan became an associate member. Armenia (surrounded by the Muslim nations of Azerbaijan, Iran, and Turkey), Georgia (with separatist movements in Abkhazia and South Ossetia), Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan (vulnerable because of its limited natural resources) accepted Russia's protection under a joint defense system and Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan also signed the Collective Security Treaty, but Azerbaijan and Georgia later withdrew from the defense agreement. In 2002 the treaty adherents agreed to establish the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which superseded the CIS as a forum for military cooperation in 2005. Uzbekistan, which had suspended its security treaty membership in 1998, joined the CSTO in 2006.
Because the CIS has remained essentially a regional forum, progress toward the integration of its member nations has tended to take place outside the organization. In 1996, Belarus signed a treaty with Russia to coordinate their defense and foreign policy apparatus and to eliminate trade restrictions and eventually unite their currencies. Individual sovereignty is to be maintained, but they created supranational bodies to effect these changes. The two nations have since signed several follow-up agreements, but actual progress toward integration has been slow. They, Kazakhstan (which has a large Russian community), and Kyrgyzstan additionally agreed to pursue economic integration without customs restrictions. Tajikistan later joined the customs union, which became the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) in 2000. Several other CIS members are EurAsEC observers. In 2003, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine agreed to form a Single Economic Space; the treaty was ratified the following year. Meanwhile, concerns over Russian domination of the CIS prompted Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova to establish a loose international association; from 1999 to 2005 Uzbekistan also was a member.
| Wikipedia: Commonwealth of Independent States |
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Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)Содружество Независимых Государств (СНГ)
Sodruzhestvo Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv (SNG) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 Full members Participating non-member (Ukraine) Associate member (Turkmenistan)
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| Administrative center |  Minsk |
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| Largest city |  Moscow |
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| Working language | Russian | |||||
| Membership |
10 members
1 participating
 Ukraine1, 2 |
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| Government | Commonwealth | |||||
| - | Executive Secretary | Sergei Lebedev |
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| Establishment | 21 December 1991 | |||||
| - | CST | 15 May 1992 | ||||
| - | CISFTA signed | 1994[1] | ||||
| - | CISFTA established | 19 September 2003[2] | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total | 22,100,843 km2 8,533,183 sq mi |
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| Population | ||||||
| - | 2008 estimate | 276,917,629 | ||||
| - | Density | 12.53/km2 32.5/sq mi |
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| GDP (PPP) | 2007 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $2,906.944 billion | ||||
| - | Per capita | $10,498 | ||||
| GDP (nominal) | 2007 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $1,691.861 billion | ||||
| - | Per capita | $6,110 | ||||
| Currency |
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| Time zone | (UTC+2 to +12) | |||||
| Website cis.minsk.by |
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| 1 | Founding countries | |||||
| 2 | Has not ratified the charter | |||||
| 3 | Associate member | |||||
| 4 |  Georgia was an official member from 1994 to 2009 |
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The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) (Russian: Содружество Независимых Государств, СНГ) is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union.
The CIS is comparable to a very loose association of states and in no way comparable to a federation, confederation or supra-national organisation such as the old European Community. It is more comparable to the Commonwealth of Nations. Although the CIS has few supranational powers, it is more than a purely symbolic organization, possessing coordinating powers in the realm of trade, finance, lawmaking, and security. It has also promoted cooperation on democratization and cross-border crime prevention. As a regional organization, CIS participates in UN peacekeeping forces.[3] Some of the members of the CIS have established the Eurasian Economic Community with the aim of creating a full-fledged common market.
Contents |
The organization was founded on 8 December 1991 by the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation, and Ukraine, when the leaders of the three countries met in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha Natural Reserve, about 50 km (30 miles) north of Brest in Belarus and signed a Creation Agreement (Russian: Соглашение, Soglasheniye) on the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the creation of CIS as a successor entity to the USSR.[4] At the same time they announced that the new alliance would be open to all republics of the former Soviet Union, as well as other nations sharing the same goals. The CIS charter stated that all the members were sovereign and independent nations and thereby effectively abolished the Soviet Union.
On 21 December 1991, the leaders of eight additional former Soviet Republics – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan – agreed to join the CIS, thus bringing the number of participating countries to 11.[5] Georgia joined two years later, in December 1993.[6] As of that time, 12 of the 15 former Soviet Republics participated in the CIS. Three former Soviet Republics, the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania chose not to join.
In March 2007, Igor Ivanov, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, expressed his doubts concerning the usefulness of CIS, and emphasizing that the Eurasian Economic Community became a more competent organization to unify the biggest countries of the CIS.[7] In May 2009 the six countries Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine joined the Eastern Partnership, a project which was initiated by the European Union (EU).
When Yeltsin became Russian Defence Minister on 7 May 1992, Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, the man appointed as Commander-in-Chief of the CIS Armed Forces, and his staff, were ejected from the MOD and General Staff buildings and given offices in the former Warsaw Pact Headquarters at 41 Leningradsky Prospekt[8] on the northern outskirts of Moscow.[9] Shaposhnikov resigned in June 1993.
In December 1993, the CIS Armed Forces Headquarters was abolished.[10] Instead, 'the CIS Council of Defence Ministers created a CIS Military Cooperation Coordination Headquarters (MCCH) in Moscow, with 50 per cent of the funding provided by Russia.'[11] General Viktor Samsonov was appointed as Chief of Staff.
The Creation Agreement remained the main constituent document of the CIS until January 1993, when the CIS Charter (Russian: Устав, Ustav) was adopted.[12] 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.[13][14] Although Ukraine was one of the three founding countries and ratified the Creation Agreement in December 1991, Ukraine did not to ratify the CIS Charter and is not a member of the CIS[6][15].
| Country | Signed | Ratified | Charter ratified | Membership Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Armenia |
21 December 1991 | 18 February 1992 | 16 March 1994 | official member |
 Azerbaijan |
21 December 1991 | 24 September 1993 | 14 December 1993 | official member |
| Belarus |
8 December 1991 | 10 December 1991 | 18 January 1994 | official member |
 Kazakhstan |
21 December 1991 | 23 December 1991 | 20 April 1994 | official member |
 Kyrgyzstan |
21 December 1991 | 6 March 1992 | 12 April 1994 | official member |
 Moldova |
21 December 1991 | 8 April 1994 | 27 June 1994 | official member |
| Russia |
8 December 1991 | 12 December 1991 | 20 July 1993 | official member |
 Tajikistan |
21 December 1991 | 26 June 1993 | 4 August 1993 | official member |
 Turkmenistan |
21 December 1991 | 26 December 1991 | Not ratified | unofficial associate member |
| Ukraine |
8 December 1991 | 10 December 1991 | Not ratified | de facto participating; officially not a member |
 Uzbekistan |
21 December 1991 | 1 April 1992 | 9 February 1994 | 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",[16][17] but it remained a full member of the CIS until August 2009.
| 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[18] and the Georgian Parliament voted unanimously (on 14 August 2008) to withdraw from the regional organization.[19] 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.[20] In accordance with the CIS Charter (sec. 1, art. 9),[12] Georgia's withdrawal came into effect 12 months later, on 18 August 2009.[21][22] According to a Gallup poll conducted almost a year after the war, the decision to break ties with the CIS was in stark contrast with Georgian public opinion.[23]
| Name | Country | Term |
|---|---|---|
| Ivan Korotchenya | Belarus |
26 December 1991 - 29 April 1998 |
| Boris Berezovsky | Russia |
29 April 1998 - 4 March 1999 |
| Ivan Korotchenya (acting) | Belarus |
4 March - 2 April 1999 |
| Yury Yarov | Russia |
2 April 1999 - 14 June 2004 |
| Vladimir Rushailo | Russia |
14 June 2004 - 5 October 2007 |
| Sergei Lebedev | Russia |
since 5 October 2007 |
Following the withdraw of Georgia, the presidents of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan skipped the Oct 2009 meeting of the CIS.[24]
The Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC or EAEC) originated from a customs union between Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan on the 29 March 1996.[25] It was named EEC on 10 October 2000[26] when Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan signed the treaty. EurAsEC was formally created when the treaty was finally ratified by all five member states in May 2001. Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine have the observer status. EurAsEC is working on establishing a common energy market and exploring the more efficient use of water in central Asia.
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan formed the OCAC in 1991 as Central Asian Commonwealth (CAC). The organization continued in 1994 as Central Asian Economic Union (CAEU), in which Tajikistan and Turkmenistan did not participate. In 1998 it became Central Asian Economic Cooperation (CAEC), which marked the return of Tajikistan. On February 28, 2002 it was renamed to its current name. Russia joined on May 28, 2004.[27] On October 7, 2005 it was decided between the member states that Uzbekistan will join[28] the Eurasian Economic Community and that the organizations will merge.[29] The organizations joined on 25 January 2006. It is not clear what will happen to the status of current CACO observers that are not observers to EurAsEC (Georgia and Turkey).
After discussion about the creation of a common economic space between the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, agreement in principle about the creation of this space was announced after a meeting in the Moscow suburb of Novo-Ogarevo on 23 February 2003. The Common Economic Space would involve a supranational commission on trade and tariffs that would be based in Kiev, would initially be headed by a representative of Kazakhstan, and would not be subordinate to the governments of the four nations. The ultimate goal would be a regional organisation that would be open for other countries to join as well, and could eventually lead even to a single currency.
On 22 May 2003 The Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian Parliament) voted 266 votes in favour and 51 against the joint economic space. However, most believe that Viktor Yushchenko's victory in the Ukrainian presidential election of 2004 was a significant blow against the project: Yushchenko has shown renewed interest in Ukrainian membership in the European Union, and such membership would be incompatible with the envisioned common economic space. The creation of a common economic space for Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus may be launched on January 1, 2010.[30]
The data is taken from the UN Statistics Division.
| Country | Population | GDP 2006 (USD) | GDP 2007 (USD) | growth | per capita |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belarus | 9,688,796 | 36,961,815,474 | 44,773,406,221 | 21.13% | 4,621 |
| Russia | 142,498,534 | 984,926,789,696 | 1,289,582,151,445 | 30.93% | 9,050 |
| Kazakhstan | 15,421,864 | 81,003,864,916 | 104,143,432,632 | 28.57% | 6,753 |
| Kyrgyzstan | 5,316,544 | 2,834,168,893 | 3,745,000,489 | 32.14% | 704 |
| Uzbekistan | 27,372,256 | 17,077,480,575 | 19,274,619,012 | 12.87% | 704 |
| Tajikistan | 6,735,996 | 2,830,213,563 | 3,737,572,699 | 32.06% | 555 |
| EAEC total | 207,033,990 | 1,125,634,333,117 | 1,465,256,182,498 | 30.17% | 7,077 |
| Azerbaijan | 8,467,171 | 20,981,929,498 | 31,248,521,184 | 48.93% | 3,691 |
| Ukraine | 46,205,379 | 107,753,069,307 | 141,177,227,723 | 31.02% | 3,055 |
| Moldova | 3,793,603 | 3,408,283,313 | 4,394,888,125 | 28.95% | 1,158 |
| GUAM total | 62,861,573 | 139,888,538,550 | 186,996,463,870 | 33.68% | 2,975 |
| Armenia | 3,002,271 | 6,386,714,351 | 9,177,274,353 | 43.69% | 3,057 |
| Turkmenistan | 4,965,275 | 6,511,997,714 | 7,253,230,940 | 11.38% | 1,461 |
| Grand total | 277,863,109 | 1,278,421,583,732 | 1,668,683,151,661 | 30.53% | 6,005 |
The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) (Russian: Организация Договора о Коллективной Безопасности) or simply the Tashkent Treaty (Russian: Ташкентский договор) first began as the CIS Collective Security Treaty[31] which was signed on May 15, 1992, by Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, in the city of Tashkent. Azerbaijan signed the treaty on September 24, 1993, Georgia on December 9, 1993 and Belarus on December 31, 1993. The treaty came into effect on April 20, 1994.
The CST was set to last for a 5-year period unless extended. On April 2, 1999, only six members of the CST signed a protocol renewing the treaty for another five year period -- Azerbaijan, Georgia and Uzbekistan refused to sign and withdrew from the treaty instead. Organization was named CSTO on October 7, 2002 in Chişinău. Nikolai Bordyuzha was appointed secretary general of the new organization. During 2005, the CSTO partners conducted some common military exercises. In 2005, Uzbekistan withdrew from GUAM and on 23 June 2006, Uzbekistan became a full participant in the CSTO and its membership was formally ratified by its parliament on 28 March 2008.[32] The CSTO is an observer organization at the United Nations General Assembly.
The charter reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force. Signatories would not be able to join other military alliances or other groups of states, while aggression against one signatory would be perceived as an aggression against all. To this end, the CSTO holds yearly military command exercises for the CSTO nations to have an opportunity to improve inter-organization cooperation. The largest-scale CSTO military exercise held to date were the "Rubezh 2008" exercises hosted in Armenia where a combined total of 4,000 troops from all 7 constituent CSTO member countries conducted operative, strategic, and tactical training with an emphasis towards furthering efficiency of the collective security element of the CSTO partnership.[33]
In May 2007 the CSTO secretary-general Nikolai Bordyuzha suggested Iran could join the CSTO saying, "The CSTO is an open organization. If Iran applies in accordance with our charter, we will consider the application."[34] If Iran joined it would be the first state outside the former Soviet Union to become a member of the organization.
On October 6, 2007, CSTO members agreed to a major expansion of the organization that would create a CSTO peacekeeping force that could deploy under a U.N. mandate or without one in its member states. The expansion would also allow all members to purchase Russian weapons at the same price as Russia.[35] CSTO signed an agreement with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), in the Tajik capital Dushanbe, to broaden cooperation on issues such as security, crime, and drug trafficking.[36]
On August 29, 2008, Russia announced it would seek CSTO recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Three days before, on August 26, Russia recognized the independence of Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.[37] On September 5, 2008, Armenia assumed the rotating CSTO presidency during a CSTO meeting in Moscow, Russia.[38]
In October 2009 Ukraine refused permission for the CIS Anti-Terrorist Center to hold anti-terrorist exercises on its territory because Ukraine's constitution bans foreign military units from operating on its territory.[39]
The CIS Election Monitoring Organization (Russian: Миссия наблюдателей от СНГ на выборах) is an election monitoring body that was formed in October 2002, following a Commonwealth of Independent States heads of states meeting which adopted the Convention on the Standards of Democratic Elections, Electoral Rights, and Freedoms in the Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The CIS-EMO has been sending election observers to member countries of the CIS since this time.
The Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, established in March 1995, is a consultative parliamentary wing of the CIS created to discuss problems of parliamentary cooperation.[44] The Assembly will hold its 32nd Plenary meeting in Saint Petersburg on 14 May 2009.
Russia has been urging that the Russian language receive official status in all of the CIS member states. So far Russian is an official language in four of these states: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Russian is also considered an official language in the region of Transnistria, and the autonomous region of Gagauzia in Moldova. Viktor Yanukovych, the Moscow-supported presidential candidate in the controversial Ukrainian presidential election, 2004, declared his intention to make Russian an official second language of Ukraine. However, Viktor Yushchenko, the winner, did not do so, since he was closely aligned with the Ukrainian-speaking population.[citation needed]
During the 1992 Olympic Games (in Albertville, France, and Barcelona, Spain), athletes from the CIS member states competed as the Unified Team for the last time. In some other sports events in that year, such as the European Championships in football, athletes took part as members of the CIS team. Since then, athletes from the member states have competed for their home countries' teams.
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