Council of Heads of State of the CIS

The Council of Heads of State of the CIS (Russian: Совет глав государств СНГ), abbreviated in the Russian language as the SGG (СГГ), is a working body in the Commonwealth of Independent States. It serves as the supreme body of the CIS, and includes all the chief of state of CIS member states.[1] Regular meetings of the council are held annually. It was created following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, directly replacing the State Council of the Soviet Union. As of 2020 there are 9 members of the CIS: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Turkmenistan is an associate state of the CIS.

Council of Heads of State of the CIS
Совет глав государств СНГ
Agency overview
Formed26 December 1991
Preceding agency
JurisdictionCommonwealth of Independent States

Activities

The 2008 CIS heads of state summit family photo at Konstantin Palace in Strelna.

The activities of the Council of Heads of State are governed by the agreement on the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States of 8 December 1991 and the CIS Charter of 22 January 1993.[2] At its meetings, the Council of Heads of State make decisions concerning amendments to the CIS Charter, the creation or abolition of bodies of the CIS, and optimizing the structure of the CIS, among others. Decisions of the Council of Heads of State are taken by consensus, with any member state having the ability to declare its disinterest in a particular issue.[2]

Current members

Country[3]LeaderTerm StartPictureCountryLeaderTerm StartPicture
 ArmeniaPrime Minister Nikol Pashinyan8 May 2018  MoldovaPresident Maia Sandu24 December 2020
 AzerbaijanPresident Ilham Aliyev31 October 2003  RussiaPresident Vladimir Putin7 May 2012
 BelarusPresident Alexander Lukashenko20 July 1994  TajikistanPresident Emomali Rahmon20 November 1992
 KazakhstanPresident Kassym-Jomart Tokayev20 March 2019  TurkmenistanPresident Serdar Berdimuhamedow19 March 2022
 KyrgyzstanPresident Sadyr Japarov28 January 2021  UzbekistanPresident Shavkat Mirziyoyev14 December 2016

Chairmen

The chairmanship of the council rotates every year to the leader of a member state. The chairman's host country gets to host the annual summit in their country (most likely their capital city). The chairmanship exists in accordance with regulations approved by the council in Dushanbe in October 2008.[2] The following is a table of chairmen of the council.

CountryChairmanTermPicture
 RussiaPresident Boris Yeltsin[4][5][6][7][8]1 January 1994 – 31 December 1999
 RussiaPresident Vladimir Putin[9][10]25 January 2000 – 29 January 2003
 UkrainePresident Leonid Kuchma[11]29 January 2003 – 16 September 2004
 RussiaPresident Vladimir Putin16 September 2004 – 20 May 2006
 KazakhstanPresident Nursultan Nazarbayev[12]20 May 2006 – 5 October 2007
 KyrgyzstanPresident Kurmanbek Bakiyev5 October 2007 – 31 December 2008
 MoldovaPresident Vladimir Voronin1 January – 11 September 2009
 MoldovaActing President Mihai Ghimpu11 September – 31 December 2009
 RussiaPresident Dmitry Medvedev1 January – 31 December 2010
 TajikistanPresident Emomali Rahmon1 January – 31 December 2011
 TurkmenistanPresident Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow1 January – 31 December 2012
 BelarusPresident Alexander Lukashenko[13]1 January – 31 December 2013
 UkrainePresident Viktor Yanukovych[14][15]1 January – 4 April 2014
 BelarusPresident Alexander Lukashenko4 April – 31 December 2014
 KazakhstanPresident Nursultan Nazarbayev1 January – 31 December 2015
 KyrgyzstanPresident Almazbek Atambayev1 January – 31 December 2016
 RussiaPresident Vladimir Putin1 January – 31 December 2017
 TajikistanPresident Emomali Rahmon[16]1 January – 31 December 2018
 TurkmenistanPresident Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow[17]1 January – 31 December 2019
 UzbekistanPresident Shavkat Mirziyoyev[18]1 January – 31 December 2020
 BelarusPresident Alexander Lukashenko[19]1 January – 31 December 2021
 KazakhstanPresident Kassym-Jomart Tokayev1 January – 31 December 2022
 KyrgyzstanIncumbent
President Sadyr Japarov
1 January – 31 December 2023
Boris Yeltsin, Leonid Kravchuk, and Stanislav Shushkevich signed the ceremony at the Viskuli Government House after the inaugural summit.

Sessions

Early years

The first meeting was held in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, where the Belovezha Accords were signed at Viskuli Government House.[20] In the Kazakh capital of Alma Ata on 21 December, the Alma-Ata Protocol was signed,[21] in which a provisional agreement on the membership and conduct of Councils of Heads of State and Government was concluded, as well as an agreement on Strategic Forces, Armed Forces and Border Troops. Many military documents were signed at a supplementary summit on 30 December in Minsk.[22][23]

Later summits

  • 1994
    • Moscow (15 April)
    • Moscow (21 October)
  • 1995
    • Alma-Ata (10 February)
    • Minsk (26 May)
  • 1996
    • January 19 - Moscow (19 January)
    • Moscow (17 May)
  • 1997
  • Moscow (29 April 1998)
  • Moscow (2 April 1999)
  • 2000
    • Moscow (25 January)
    • Moscow (21 June)
    • Minsk (1 December)
  • 2001
    • Minsk (1 June)
    • Moscow (30 November)
  • Chisinau (7 October 2002)
  • Yalta (19 September 2003)
  • Astana (16 September 2004)
  • Kazan (26 August 2005)
  • Minsk (28 November 2006)
  • Dushanbe (5 October 2007)
  • Bishkek (10 October 2008)[24]
  • Chisinau (9 October 2009)
  • Moscow (10 October and 10 December 2010)[25]
  • 2011
    • Dushanbe (3 September)
    • Moscow (20 December)[26]
  • 2012
    • Moscow (15 May)[27]
    • Ashgabat (5 December)[28]
  • Minsk (25 October 2013)[29]
  • Minsk (10 October 2014)[30]
  • Burabay National Park (16 October 2015)[31]
  • Chong-Aryk, Bishkek (16 September 2016)[32]
  • Sochi (11 October 2017)[33]
  • Dushanbe (1 June 2018)
  • Ashgabat (2019)
  • Tashkent (2020)

See also

Notes