Commonwealth of Independent States
Background
The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional intergovernmental organisation of states in Eurasia that was created after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Its mandate is to encourage cooperation among member states in economic, political, and military affairs, and it has coordinating powers in areas such as trade, finance, lawmaking, security, and the prevention of cross-border crime. Because it brings together much of the former Soviet space, the organisation remains a significant framework for post-Soviet interstate contact and policy coordination.
The CIS is made up of member states rather than a supranational government, and its work is carried out through intergovernmental bodies established by its founding declarations and principles. Russia and Belarus remain participating members, and the organisation has also included other former Soviet republics at different times. Within the wider regional institutional landscape, it serves as one of several structures through which member states coordinate common interests, alongside related bodies that developed from the CIS framework.
The organisation was proclaimed on 8 December 1991 by Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine in the Belovezha Accords, and the founding framework was expanded on 21 December 1991 with the Alma-Ata Protocol signed by those three states and eight others. Georgia joined in 1993 and withdrew in 2008, while Ukraine ended participation in CIS statutory bodies in 2018 after earlier distancing itself in 2014. The CIS has continued to function as a post-Soviet forum for cooperation, and eight of its nine member states participate in the CIS Free Trade Area, reflecting its ongoing role in regional economic and institutional ties.
Documents
Press Release: Participation of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia D.E. Lubinsky in the UNODC-SCO Thematic Side Event at the 69th Session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Lubinsky represented Moscow at a UNODC-SCO anti-narcotics event, highlighting the new SCO Anti-Narcotics Center in Dushanbe and Russia's commitment to international drug control.
Meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State
Putin and Lukashenko held the Supreme State Council of the Union State in Moscow, signing a package of documents including directives on mutual legal protection, cross-border rail links, and a new Standardisation and Quality Committee, marking 30 years of Russian-Belarusian integration.