MOSCOW, February 16. /TASS/. Ukraine has lost its financial independence, turning into "a global beggar," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"The West is using Ukraine in every way in order to contain Russia and, as they say, inflict a strategic defeat on Russia and prevent it from playing its due role on the international stage," the top diplomat pointed out at a conference dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the coup in Ukraine.

"As a result, Ukraine, which did inherit the richest industrial capacity from the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, has turned into perhaps the poorest country in Europe and, without exaggeration, a nation on the decline, while the Kiev leadership is now a recognized global beggar," Lavrov added.