The Commonwealth of independent states originally encompassed the countries that emerged from the former Soviet Union except the three Baltic countries. It consisted of 12 countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. However Ukraine never ratified the treaty, Turkmenistan discontinued permanent membership in 2005 becoming an associate member instead, and Georgia withdrew from the CIS in august 2008 after the war with Russia.