The Commonwealth of Independent States has stopped existing. The CIS has deceased, head of the International Committee of the Council of Federation Mikhail Margelov stated today. In the Senator's words, the CIS has turned into an amorphous organization without any signs of generally valid normative nature. The divorce took place, the Senator said, adding that not all «orange» revolutions cause the collapse of the CIS. In Margelov's words, the CIS can be kept formally, however in fact the Commonwealth cannot be compared with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization or the Common Economic Space.

Speaking about CIS stopping existence is premature, stated in his turn head of the Center for Political Technologies Alexey Makarkin. The political scientist commented that way on the words of head of the Committee of the Council of Federation for Foreign Affairs of Russia Mikhail Margelov that the CIS had stopped existing. «The CIS in fact has a sole function - it serves as a ground for negotiations, contacts between state leaders,» A. Makarkin remarked. «Gathering leaders in other format is problematic, e.g. those of Armenia and Azerbaijan or Russia and Georgia.» However, the CIS cannot exist as «a prototype of the USSR, some integrating structure,» A. Makarkin considers. In his opinion, «there is an active minority in the CIS that tends towards the West, while the majority tends towards Russia.» «To all appearance, the minority will leave the CIS, however it will hardly take place today or tomorrow,» the political scientist considers. «In case they leave, the CIS will become smaller and may transform into another organization, but it will remain,» A. Makarkin said, reported Echo of Moscow.