The Commonwe alth of Independent States is an international treaty that was signed by part of the republics that became independent after the collapse of the USSR. The founders of the Commonwe alth were three states: Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The document was signed on December 8, 1991 and ratified on December 10.
CIS Members
To date, 11 countries have signed the agreement. Negotiations are underway to create a free economic zone with two states: Vietnam and New Zealand.
The collapse of the USSR is one of the most extraordinary events of the 20th century. Millions of people who were citizens of one country, who had the opportunity to move freely throughout its territory without issuing visas and other documents, who had the right to live in peace in any city, suddenly became foreigners for their own relatives and friends, because they were separated by borders drawn by ambitious politicians. Not immediately, but rather soon, in many newly formed states, the national question arose sharply, sowing discord among the recently friendly peoples, provoking armed conflicts. arosedifficulties on economic grounds. To smooth out the problems that arose, the CIS was created.
For clarity, we put information about the population of the CIS countries in the table:
| country | treaty ratification, year | ratification of the Charter, year | date of FTA signing, year | population | Employed population (ages 15 to 64), as a percentage of the total number of citizens of the country, end of 2016 |
| Armenia | 1991 | 1993 | 2012 | 2 986 100 | 52, 1 |
| Belarus | 1991 | 1994 | 2012 | 9 491 823 | 55, 5 |
| Kazakhstan | 1991 | 1993 | 2012 | 18 157 078 | 73, 7 |
| Kyrgyzstan | 1992 | 1993 | 2013 | 6 140 200 | 60, 4 |
| Moldova | 1994 | 1994 | 2012 | 3 550 900 | 45, 2 |
| Russia | 1991 | 1993 | 2012 | 146 880 432 | 70, 0 |
| Tajikistan | 1991 | 1993 | 2015 | 8 991 725 | 42, 0 |
| Ukraine | 1991 | - | 2012 | 42 248 598 | 60, 1 |
| Uzbekistan | 1992 | 1993 | 2015 | 32,979,000 | 59, 7 |
| Turkmenistan | 1991 | - | - | 5 490 563 | - |
|
Azerbaijan |
1993 | 1993 | - | 9 574 000 | 71, 4 |
Georgia withdrew from the CIS in 2009.
Gross Domestic Product
This figure can be nominal and real. It reflects the total cost of goods, but one of the important and defining indicators of the well-being of the population in the country is the per capita indicator.
GDP per capita of CIS countries (PPP):
| country | US dollars |
| Russia | 29 926 |
| Kazakhstan | 25 669 |
| Belarus | 18 600 |
| Azerbaijan | 17 500 |
| Turkmenistan | 15 583 |
| Uzbekistan | 7023 |
| Armenia | 6128 |
| Moldova | 5039 |
| Kyrgyzstan | 3467 |
| Tajikistan | 3146 |
| Ukraine | 2052 |
As you can see from this table, not all new CIS countries perform well.
Evidence of discrimination against non-indigenous people in CIS countries
As mentioned above, the division into parts of a single state caused previously unthinkable national problems. In the 1990s there was a surge of nationalism. In some former republics, everything happened openly, for example, in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. After the separation of these republics from the USSR, many Russians left there, as they could not obtain the documents necessary for living. In other republics, pressure on "foreigners" was veiled. For example, in Ukraine it was forbidden to draw up documentation in Russian. Employees who violated this rule could lose bonuses or apply other administrative pen alties. All this took place against the backdrop of economicrecession.
To date, the situation has calmed down a bit. Migration within the former USSR also decreased. However, in some regions, the oppression of people of other nationalities is still observed. The most striking example of this is the state of affairs in Ukraine. At the moment, not only is the Russian language banned here, many Russian publishing houses, banks, commercial and public organizations are closed, but even all Russian websites are blocked.
Russia
The population of Russia - the CIS country, which has the largest territory and the most multinational composition, is practically not familiar with any harassment on the basis of nationality. The only exception is the attitude towards Armenians and Caucasians in general. This state of affairs intensified especially after a series of terrorist attacks in Moscow.
Confirming the fact of "Armenophobia" are the events when in the Moscow region, in 2002, there were mass pogroms of Armenian settlements. Similar riots took place in 2005 in Novorossiysk. In 2006, an attack on Armenians was also recorded in the Saratov region.
In recent years, a new trend has been observed in Russia - "Ukrainophobia". Ukraine is a CIS country, whose population in the recent past considered Russians to be a kindred people. Now many feel hostility towards the former "brothers". Against the background of the current conflict between countries in Russia, some people believe that Ukrainians pose a certain threat.
Another dangerous trend in the country is the Nazi skinheads. This is a kind of youth subculture, whose members are fighting for the purity of the race andadvocate the expulsion from the country of all other nationalities, from Negroes to Jews. And the ideology of the community is that visitors take away jobs from the local population.
Azerbaijan
This is little talked about, because pogroms in our understanding are genocide against Jews. However, in the once multinational Azerbaijan, which was considered the most hospitable country in the CIS, the population began to treat the Russians very unfriendly. Therefore, their number is rapidly decreasing every year. So in 1939, 18% of Russians lived in Azerbaijan, and in 2009 only 1.34% of them remained.
If in Georgia they de alt with the Russians because of territorial disputes, then in Azerbaijan they destroyed the Slavs only because they belong to this race. The first pogroms began in 1990. The main slogan at that time was: “Azerbaijan for Azerbaijanis!”. Only the first wave of refugees to Russia consisted of 20,000 people who previously lived in Baku. Later, when it was possible to suppress the armed conflict, Russians were simply evicted from apartments and houses, recommending that they leave the republic.
There is also a conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia (since 1998), which claims that Azerbaijanis are purposefully destroying Armenian shrines on the territory of their state and in Turkey.
Ukraine
The country closest in ethnic composition to Russia. Therefore, Russians should feel comfortable here. However, here before the nation althe question is extremely acute. Despite the fact that Ukraine has the largest ethnic group of Russians, their number is inexorably decreasing.
In the CIS country of Ukraine, the population also began to have a negative attitude towards Russians. This is happening with the filing and full approval of the authorities.
The country's legislation completely ignores the Russian language, although it is spoken by more than 70% of all residents. Today, the country is undergoing forced Ukrainization, which has affected not only the institution of education, but also the media. Schools have completely removed the Russian language from the curriculum. It cannot be studied even as a foreign language. Children are allowed to get acquainted only with some works of Pushkin and Lermontov, but their poems have been translated into Ukrainian!
A similar situation was observed in Belarus in the 90s. At that time, the Russian language also did not have the status of a second state language. However, everything changed after the referendum in 1995.
Demographics
Despite the efforts of many governments, the population of Russia and the CIS countries is inexorably declining. Natural increase and birth rate began to decline significantly since the 90s of the last century.
This situation is connected not only with economic problems, but also with the tendency to create one-child families. Gone are the days when every family had three or more children.
Another problem is the outflow of people from countries with low economic potential in search of a more dignified life.
