СНГ Meeting of CIS leaders in Bishkek, 2008. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS; Russian: Содружество Независимых Государств, #СНГ, tr. Sodruzhestvo Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv, SNG) (also called the Russian Commonwealth) is a regional organization whose participating countries are former #Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Independent_States Ukraine 8 December 1991 10 December 1991 Not ratified De facto participating; officially not a member Although Ukraine was one of the three founding countries and ratified the Creation Agreement in December 1991, Ukraine did not choose to ratify the CIS Charter. In 1993 #Ukraine became an "Associate Member" of CIS.