Ukraine and Georgia join efforts to oppose Russia

Ukrainian politicians believe that the Commonwealth of Independent States is not a serious organization at all

One of the most inefficient organizations, which was ever established on the territory of the former USSR, will most likely be revived in the near future. The organization, which incorporates Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova, is known for its initials as GUUAM. The organization was formed to boost the economic cooperation between its members. However, it turned out that GUUAM would be destined to play a different role: to counterbalance the influence of Russia. The idea did not prove to be successful, though: there were too many contradictions between the organization's members to prove its viability. It was hard for the leaders of GUUAM members to coordinate a date of their officials meetings at times. As a result, Uzbekistan and Moldova started talking about the organization's helplessness. Founded in 1997, GUUAM still exists, although it is presumably limited to official documents.

The situation is likely to change in the near future. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko believes that one should retrieve the cooperation between Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova. Yushchenko touched upon this question at his meeting with Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli, who was happy to support the idea. Georgia's incumbent President Mikhail Saakashvili suggested the same before he took the office. Saakashvili believed that the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was not justifiable.

Apparently, the Georgian president has not changed his opinion about GUUAM and CIS. Furthermore, Mikhail Saakashvili has a new ally now – the new Ukrainian administration, which does not try to conceal its negative attitude to the future of the Commonwealth. The Foreign minister of Ukraine, Boris Tarasyuk, has already said that Ukraine was not a CIS member. The minister particularly stated on a national TV channel that Ukraine had not signed the Charter of CIS, although it did not became a problem for Kiev to participate in the activity of the Commonwealth. In addition, the Ukrainian foreign minister said that CIS was not a serious organization at all.

For the time being, it is too early to say that other states will back up the idea of recreating GUUAM. If the USA decides to act as a lobbyist, the organization might be given a new incentive in its development, taking into consideration the fact that the US administration is interested in the issue. The renewed organization might become a serious obstacle on the way of Russia's initiative to create the joint economic space.