Russia’s Regions and the CIS Countries (Community of Independent Nations)

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CIS (Community of Independent Nations)
Russian Autonomous Republics

Learning Unit Summary

CIS (Community of Independent Nations) established by a treaty signed at Minsk, Belarus, on December 8, 1991, by the heads of state of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. Between Dec. 8 and Dec. 21, the three original signatories were joined by Armenia, Azerbaijan (its parliament, however, rejected ratifying its membership until 1993), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. When Georgia joined in 1993 all of the former republics of the USSR except the Baltic States had become members of the CIS. Its headquarters are in Minsk.

The Russian Federation has 1,067 major cities, with 13 of them inhabited by one million and more people each. The largest cities are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg.

Russian Autonomous Republics

Abkhazia. Autonomous Republic in Georgia, between the Black Sea and the Greater Caucasus: 3,300 sq mi (8,547 sq km), estimated population 539,000 (1990).The principal city is Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia.

Altay Republic, constituent republic (estimated population 190,000 - 1990), 35,800 sq mi, (92,722 sq km, South-Eadtern Siberian Russia.

The Adygea Autonomous Republic is located in the central part of the North-West Caucasus, in the lowlands of the Kuban, Laba and Belaya Rivers valleys.

ADJARIAN AUTONOMOUS REPUBLIC. Autonomous region in Georgia, bordering Turkey on the south. Estimated population 382,600 (1990), 1,160 sq mi (3,000 sq km).

The Republic of Buryatia, population 1,049,000, is an autonomous republic in the South-Central region of Siberia along the eastern shore of Lake Baikal.

REPUBLIC OR CHUVASHIA. Constituent republic (1990 pop. 1,326,000), 7,066 sq mi (18,301 sq km), E central European Russia, in the middle Volga valley. Cheboksary is the capital.

CRIMEA REP. Russian Krym, autonomous republic, southern Ukraine. The republic is coterminous with the Crimean Peninsula. Area 10,400 sq miles (27,000 sq km). Population 2,549,800 (1991).

DAGESTAN REP. A constituent republic (1999 pop. 2,074,000), c.19, 400 mi2 (50,250 km2), south-eastern European Russia, bounded on the East by the Caspian Sea. Makhachkala is the capital.