The CIS Charter treaty agreement defines which countries are considered members of the CIS. According to Article 7, only countries that have ratified this treaty are considered members. However, the same article defines the countries that had ratified the Treaty for the Establishment of the CIS and its related protocol as “founding states of the CIS”. This has created legal uncertainty, as Ukraine and Turkmenistan ratified the treaty and protocol, and therefore are considered “founding states of the CIS”. Ukraine and Turkmenistan never ratified the CIS Charter, and therefore could not be considered members of the CIS, once the Charter came into effect. Nevertheless, both Ukraine and Turkmenistan have continued participating in the CIS, with Turkmenistan becoming an associate member of the CIS in August 2005, following the procedure defined in Article 8 of the Charter. (WikiPedia)