Services, especially financial and tourism, are growing in importance compared to historically more prominent light industry and food production. Privatization of small and medium firms is virtually complete, and privatization of large-scale enterprises is underway. Although prices continue to rise, incomes are rising faster than the rate of inflation. The Government generally respected the human rights of its citizens and the large noncitizen community, but problems remained in some areas. The major human rights abuses continued to be mistreatment of prisoners and detainees, and the use of excessive force by the police.
Prison conditions are poor.
The deadline for noncitizens to file for permanent residency expired in 1996, after being extended twice. An undetermined number of noncitizens have still not filed for residency. Problems remain in processing the applications for permanent residency of some 19,000 Russian military retirees and family members. Processing of applications for alien passports continued. There were complaints about the low rate of issuance which, however, picked up late in the year.