 The August Coup collapsed in the face of overwhelming opposition not only from the smaller republics but from larger ones, especially Russia.Because the treaty was ultimately never signed at all, even in the aftermath of Ukrainian independence in December, the leaders of republics organized the Commonwealth of Independent States, an alliance of 12 newly independent states (initially all ex-Soviet republics except the Baltic states and Georgia, which joined in 1993, but withdrew again in 2008).On the first draft of the treaty released in July 1991, the proclaimed name for the new nation was the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics; .