The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) (Содружество Независимых Государств (СНГ), transliterated Sodruzhestvo Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv) is the international organization, or alliance, consisting of eleven former Soviet Republics: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Turkmenistan discontinued permanent membership as of August 26 2005, and is now an associate member.

The creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States on December 21, 1991 signaled the dissolution of the Soviet Union and, according to leaders of Russia, its purpose was to "allow a civilized divorce" between the Soviet Republics. However, many observers perceive the CIS as a geopolitical tool, allowing Russia to maintain its influence over the former Soviet republics. Since its formation, the member-states of CIS have signed a large number of documents concerning integration and cooperation on matters of economics, defense and foreign policy.

From a historical point of view, the CIS could be viewed a successor entity to the Soviet Union, insofar as one of its original intents was to provide a framework for the disassembly of that state. However, the CIS is emphatically not a state unto itself, and is more comparable to a loose confederation more similar to the European Community than to the European Union that followed. Although the CIS has few supranational powers, it is more than a purely symbolic organization, possessing coordinating powers in the realm of trade, finance, lawmaking, and security. The most significant issue for the CIS is the establishment of a full-fledged free trade zone / economic union between the member states, to have been launched in 2005. It has also promoted cooperation on democratisation and cross-border crime prevention.

The CIS is headquartered in Minsk, Belarus. The chairman of the CIS is known as the Executive Secretary. All of the CIS's executive secretaries have been from Belarus or Russia. The current executive secretary is Sergei Lebedev since October 2007.

Two of the Post-Soviet states in 1997 formed the Union of Russia and Belarus, a loose confederal grouping at present which has the stated intention of re-forming a USSR-like federation at some unspecified future date.