The World - News from Feb. 1, 1989

The Soviet Union, releasing national crime statistics for the first time, reported that 111 murders and 137 holdups were committed nationwide during January. “It has been decided to reveal previously classified statistics of the U.S.S.R. Interior Ministry,” ministry spokesman Col. Yuri Arshenevsky said in an interview with the newspaper Trud. “From now on, data on crime and on the results of combatting it will be available for everyone.” Before the era of glasnost , or openness, initiated by Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, only selective crime statistics were released on a sporadic basis. Arshenevsky said that the 111 murders in January were due mainly to drunkenness and jealousy.