The first reaction to the disintegration of the USSR by the end of 1991 was fear of an outburst of ethnic and interstate conflicts in the post-Soviet territory. In Transcaucasia a war had broken out between Armenia and Azerbaijan; Moldova had split into two parts Pridnestrovye and the territory loyal to Kishinyov; Ukraine faced the hazard of the Crimean Peninsula being annexed by Russia; and in the Baltic states a conflict flared up between authorities and Russian-speaking populations concerning the issues of citizenship and the state language. In those circumstances it was crucial to have a mechanism for dialogue and cooperation. Thus, in early 1992, a Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was created comprising almost all of the former Soviet republics, except Georgia and Azerbaijan, which at the beginning sought to distance themselves from Moscow and the Baltic states. From the start the Commonwealth was a rather amorphous formation and was soon regarded by all parties as only a mechanism for peaceful divorce. In that regard, the CIS was certainly a success, but as soon as the danger of escalation of ethnic and interstate conflicts had passed, CIS members began to struggle and align on the basis of interests, particularly regional. In the wake of disappointment with the CIS and concern that it might turn into a means for restoring the USSR, the Central Asian Union was created in 1994, originally comprised of three states–Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. Two other Central Asian countries–Turkmenistan and Tajikistan–did not join for various reasons. The former had declared itself neutral and refused to join any unions, although it had become part of the CIS. As for Tajikistan, to a certain extent the Central Asian Union was actually created in response to developments in that country. In summer 1994, Kyrgyzstan President Askar Akaev admitted that