Editing Confederation (section)

=== Union State of Russia and Belarus===
{{main|Union State}}

In 1999, [[Russia]] and [[Belarus]] signed a treaty to form a confederation,<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2021-09-10|publisher=BBC News |title= Russia and Belarus form confederation|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/555384.stm|date=8 December 1999}}</ref> which came into force on 26 January 2000.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Cesare|last1=Romano|first2=Karen|last2=Alter|first3=Yuval|last3=Shany|title=The Oxford Handbook of International Adjudication|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SklYAgAAQBAJ&q=Russia+%2522union+State%2522+%252226+January+2000%2522&pg=PA251|publisher=OUP Oxford|date= 2014 |isbn=978-0199660681|page=251}}</ref> Although it was given the name ''Union State'', and has some characteristics of a federation, it remains a confederation of two sovereign states.<ref name=Kembayev>{{cite book|first1=Zhenis|last1=Kembayev|title=Legal Aspects of the Regional Integration Processes in the Post-Soviet Area|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x6dFsBVzslkC&q=%2522union+state%2522+confederation+russia&pg=PA101|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|date=2009|isbn=978-3540876526|pages=98, 100–101}}</ref> Its existence has been seen as an indication of Russia's political and economic support for the [[Politics of Belarus#Lukashenko's administration|Belarusian government]].<ref name=Lagutina>{{cite book|last1=Lagutina|first1=Maria|title=Regional Integration and Future Cooperation Initiatives in the Eurasian Economic Union|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hxTFDwAAQBAJ&q=%2522Union+state%2522+russia+not+implemented&pg=PA180|publisher=IGI Global|date=2019|isbn=978-1799819523|page=180}}</ref> The confederation was created with the objective of co-ordinating common action on economic integration and foreign affairs.<ref name=Kembayev/> However, many of the treaty's provisions have not yet been implemented.<ref name=Lagutina/> Consequently, ''[[The Times]]'', in 2020, described it as "a mostly unimplemented confederation".<ref>{{cite news|first1=Johnny|last1=O'Reilly |first2= Alec|last2= Luhn|date=17 August 2020|access-date=2021-09-10|title=Belarus protests: Putin threatens to intervene as 200,000 gather to oppose Lukashenko|url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/belarus-protests-russia-ready-to-step-in-as-protests-grip-minsk-5jhmmtqb0|issn=0140-0460|newspaper=[[The Times]]}}</ref>