To match Witness CIS-KAZAKHSTAN
Leaders pose for a photograph after signing the declaration founding the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Almaty, in this December 21, 1991 file photography. The Soviet Union, we had always thought, was surely too big to fail. We had all seen the bare shelves in the shops. We knew that many constituent republics had declared their independence. But this was still my almighty Soviet Union, the only country this 20-year-old photojournalist from Kazakhstan had ever known. Pictured are (L-R) Serikbolsyn Abdildin, Chairman of the Supreme Council of Kazakhstan, Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Chairman of the Supreme Council of Belarus, Stanislav Shushkevich, Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosyan , Moldovian President Mircea Snegur and Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov. To match Witness CIS-KAZAKHSTAN REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov (KAZAKHSTAN - Tags: POLITICS)