Alma-Ata Protocol

The Alma-Ata Protocols were the founding declarations and principles of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus had agreed to the Belovezha Accords on 8 December 1991, dissolving the Soviet Union and forming the CIS. On 21 December 1991, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan agreed to the Alma-Ata Protocols, joining the CIS. The latter agreement included the original three Belavezha signatories, as well as eight additional former Soviet republics. Georgia was the only former republic that did not participate while Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia refused to do so as according to their governments, the Baltic states were illegally incorporated into the USSR in 1940.[1]

Alma-Ata Protocol

Type	Treaty establishing a founding declarations and principles of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
Signed	21 December 1991
Location	Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan, Soviet Union
Effective	21 December 1991
Signatories	Russia: Boris Yeltsin Ukraine: Leonid Kravchuk  Belarus: Stanislav Shushkevich  Armenia: Levon Ter-Petrosyan  Azerbaijan: Ayaz Mutallibov  Kazakhstan: Nursultan Nazarbayev  Kyrgyzstan: Askar Akayev  Moldova: Mircea Snegur  Tajikistan: Rahmon Nabiyev Turkmenistan: Saparmurat Niyazov  Uzbekistan: Islam Karimov

The protocols consisted of a declaration, three agreements and separate appendices. In addition, Marshal Yevgeny Shaposhnikov was confirmed as acting Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Separate treaty was signed between Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine "About mutual measures in regards to nuclear weapons".[2]