The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which today is more formal than actually operating organization, was established after the fall of the Soviet Union. The initiator of this political alliance was Moscow. Its initial idea was actively supported by Ukraine and Belarus, several former soviet republics joined CIS later. Russia did not want to release its former „sisters“ from the sphere of influence, whereas the size of CIS should have solved the disagreements which emerged after the collapse of USSR. READ MORE