History of Kazakhstan
A week after the election, Nazarbayev became the president of an independent state when the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed documents dissolving the Soviet Union. He quickly convened a meeting of the leaders of the five Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan), raising the possibility of a Turkic confederation of former republics as a counterweight to the Slavic states of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus in whatever federation might succeed the Soviet Union. This move persuaded the three Slavic presidents to include Kazakhstan among the signatories of a recast document of dissolution. Kazakhstan's capital lent its name to the Alma-Ata Protocol, the declaration of principles of the Commonwealth of Independent States. On 16 December 1991, five days before the declaration, Kazakhstan became the last of the republics to proclaim its independence.
Catholic Slavs
Catholic Slavs and Slavic Catholic are terms used for the historically and/or predominantly Catholic Slavic ethnic groups and nations and for the history of Catholicism among the Slavic peoples; especially amongst the West Slavs. The Catholic Slavic nations include all West Slavs (Poles, Czechs and Slovaks and all their sub-ethnicities ex. Kashubs, Silesians) as well as the westernmost South Slavs (Slovenes and Croats).