Prior to July 1968, Treasury restrictions prohibited the payment of Social Security benefits to, or on behalf of, beneficiaries in the Soviet Union. When the Treasury Department lifted these restrictions in July 1968, SSA did not pay benefits to these individuals because arrangements could not be made for the orderly distribution of benefits. Also, the Soviet Union would not give SSA free access to beneficiaries and records so that SSA could verify the identity and continuing entitlement of beneficiaries in the areas in which the Soviet Union's laws were in effect.

As the republics of the Soviet Union became independent, and when the Soviet Union ceased to exist as a political entity, SSA asked the Department of State (DOS) to contact the appropriate officials in the former republics and obtain:

1. a. 

   written assurance of free access to individuals and records in these republics; and

2. b. 

   information about the social insurance system of each republic.

The following former republics formed the C.I.S.:

• •

  Armenia;

• •

  Azerbaijan;

• •

  Belarus;

• •

  Kazakhstan;

• •

  Kyrgyzstan;

• •

  Moldova;

• •

  Russia;

• •

  Tajikistan;

• •

  Turkmenistan;

• •

  Ukraine;

• •

  Uzbekistan.

The following areas became independent countries, not part of the C.I.S.:

• •

  Estonia;

• •

  Georgia;

• •

  Latvia;

• •

  Lithuania.