Kazakhstan has announced that they will tighten entrance rules for citizens of countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, including Russians.
A draft resolution adopted on 31 December, published on Tuesday (17 January), and which will become effective on 27 January will restrict citizens of countries of the Eurasian Economic Union to 90 days visa-free in Kazakhstan within any 180-day period.
The government of Kazakhstan has announced that it intends to withdraw from a 1995 agreement on measures to ensure the mutual convertiblity and stabilisation of exchange rates of the Russian ruble and Kazakh tenge.
Japan on Sunday (1 January) assumed the Chairmanship of the United Nations Security Council for the month of January. This is the 12th time that Japan has chaired the Security Council, despite the fact that it is a non-permanent member. However, also on 1 January, Japan joined four other countries as non-permanent members of the Council for the next two years.
The other four new members are Ecuador, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland.