After the breakup of the Soviet Union, 15 of its former republics became independent. 3 of which, namely Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine, formed the Commonwealth of Independent States or CIS on December 1991. This consisted of the following members: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan. There is one associate member which is Turkmenistan. Ukraine, on the other hand, is recognized as a founding and participating country, but not a legal member. Georgia left the organization at around 2008-2009. In the year 2014, Ukraine declined its chairmanship and considered its ties with the organization.