Member states of the United Nations the membership of the USSR in the Security Council and all other UN organs was being continued by the Russian Federation with the support of the 11 member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The other fourteen independent states established from the former Soviet Republics were all admitted to the UN: Both Egypt and Syria joined the UN as original members on 24 October 1945. Following a plebiscite on 21 February 1958, the United Arab Republic was established by a union of Egypt and Syria and continued as a single member. On 13 October 1961, Syria, having resumed its
France and the Commonwealth of Nations model amongst France's former colonial possessions and French-speaking countries. The French Union was created in 1946 and was succeeded by the short-lived French Community in 1958, which folded when its members gained independence. France and the Commonwealth of Nations Relations between the French Republic and the Commonwealth of Nations have undergone successive periods of change since the Commonwealth's creation. The Commonwealth's predecessor, the British Empire, was a notable rival to France's own empire. Even through eras of "Entente cordiale", decolonisation, and political integration with the United Kingdom (the leading Commonwealth member) in the European Union, there has been conflict between