Belovezha Accords
The Belovezha Accords (Belarusian: Белавежскае пагадненне, Russian: Беловежские соглашения, romanized: Bjelovežskije soglašenija, Ukrainian: Біловезькі угоди, romanized: Biloveźki uhody) is the agreement declaring that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) had effectively ceased to exist and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in its place as a successor entity. The documentation was signed at the state dacha near Viskuli in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, Belarus on 8 December 1991, by leaders of three of the four republics (except for the defunct Transcaucasian SFSR) which had signed the 1922 Treaty on the Creation of the USSR:
- Belarusian Parliament Chairman Stanislav Shushkevich and Prime Minister of Belarus Vyacheslav Kebich
- Russian President Boris Yeltsin and First Deputy Prime Minister of the RSFSR/Russian Federation Gennady Burbulis
- Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk and Ukrainian Prime Minister Vitold Fokin
The signing ceremony at Viskuli Government House | |
| Type | Treaty establishing a loose regional organisation |
|---|---|
| Signed | 8 December 1991 |
| Location | Viskuli, Belovezh Forest, Belarus (de facto) Minsk, Minsk Oblast, Belarus (de jure) |
| Effective | |
| Signatories |
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| Parties |
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| Depositary | Republic of Belarus |
| Languages | Belarusian, Russian, Ukrainian |
As Shushkevich said in 2006, by December "the union had already been broken up by the putschists" who in August 1991 tried to remove Mikhail Gorbachev from power to prevent the transformation of the Soviet Union into what Shushkevich described as "a confederation." The three wanted to avoid what happened in the breakup of Yugoslavia and "there was no other way out of the situation than a divorce."