After the Soviet Union dissolved, trade between its independent states suffered. To improve trade, some Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) nations like Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Russia considered forming a Customs Union. Studying this, it was found that establishing this Union could have negative economic effects. It may harm countries with already flexible trade policies more. In essence, the potential Customs Union could lead to more harm than good for member countries due to differing trade regulations.