The GDR becomes a member of the UN Security Council for two years.
10 January
1980
US President Jimmy Carter imposes a grain embargo on the Soviet Union because of its intervention in Afghanistan. The conditions for Western technology exports (CoCom agreement) to the Soviet sphere of influence are also tightened.
14 January
1980
The UN General Assembly calls for the immediate withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan in a resolution.
22 January
1980
The Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov is arrested along with his wife, Yelena Bonner, and exiled to a camp near the city of Gorky.
26 January
1980
In a speech to SED District Secretaries, SED General Secretary Erich Honecker speaks of a promising development in German-German relations, which, he says, could however be easily damaged by increased tensions in the international situation and the "torpedoing of the détente".more
