Akademik

   The Newly Independent States (NIS) of Eurasia constitute those 15 republics that gained independence from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991, though sometimes Russia is excepted from this group due to its long history as an independent state and as the governing force in the Soviet Union. The NIS can be regionally grouped as follows: the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania); the Western Republics (Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova); the Caucasian Republics (Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan); and Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan). With the exception of the Baltic States, all are members of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The inclusion of the Baltic countries is sometimes rejected as these states were fully independent during the interwar period (1918–1939).