MOSCOW, August 6. /TASS/. Ukraine should build its economy on the basis of its national interests and stop pandering to its Western sponsors, because it is ruining the country, Viktor Medvedchuk, former leader of the Opposition Platform For Life, which is banned in Ukraine, said in an article posted on the Drugaya Ukraina (Another Ukraine) Telegram channel.

"To achieve high performance indices, it is necessary to find own economic models based on national interests. Ukraine’s authorities have completely substituted national and state interests for the desire to join the European Union and NATO, having excluded on the state level any search for alternative ways in the global economy," he wrote.

According to Medvedchuk, Ukraine’s current government has reduced its development to the only vector toward the integration with the EU and NATO. "The Ukrainian authorities are killing culture, science, education, political activities, national memory, if these things upset Western sponsors in any way. But this leads to poverty and misery of the people. Only those who are selling interests of their compatriots live well in this system," he stressed.

He noted that Russia, China, India, Brazil and many other countries are trying to find economic models that may differ from the West’s. "And the result is obvious: they have become richer, stronger and more influential," he added.

Medvedchuk cited the World Bank’s statistics showing that four BRICS nations were among the top ten in terms of purchasing capacity in 2022. "The West is no longer the world’s economic hegemon. There is a vast world of non-Western economies, which are growing, developing and competing with Western countries," he noted.