Agreement that declared dissolution of the USSR by its founder states (denunciation of 1922 Treaty on the Creation of the USSR) and established the CIS
The Belovezha Accords formally dissolved the Soviet Union and created the Commonwealth of Independent States, ending the USSR after nearly 70 years.
Key Facts
- Date signed
- 8 December 1991
- Signing location
- State dacha near Viskuli, Belovezhskaya Pushcha
- Number of signatories
- 6 (leaders of Belarus, Russia, Ukraine)
- Treaty denounced
- 1922 Treaty on the Creation of the USSR
- Organization established
- Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
- Protocol signed
- 21 December 1991
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The August 1991 coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev had effectively fragmented Soviet authority. The three founding republic leaders believed the union had already broken apart and sought to avoid a violent dissolution similar to the breakup of Yugoslavia, concluding there was no alternative to a formal separation.
On 8 December 1991, leaders of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine — three of the four original signatories of the 1922 Treaty on the Creation of the USSR — signed the Belovezha Accords at a state dacha in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, declaring the Soviet Union dissolved and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States in its place.
The accords legally terminated the Soviet Union and replaced it with the CIS, a looser intergovernmental organization. A protocol extending CIS membership was signed on 21 December 1991. The CIS Economic Court later ruled in 1994 that these 1991 agreements remain the primary founding documents of the Commonwealth, superseding the subsequent CIS Charter.
Political Outcome
The Soviet Union was formally declared dissolved; the Commonwealth of Independent States was established in its place.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) comprising former Soviet republics