LONDON, December 20. /TASS/. Economist, a UK magazine, on Tuesday named Ukraine the country of the year, it said on its website.

For the first time since the magazine started naming countries of the year in 2013, the choice was not contested, it said in an editorial. The honor usually goes to the country that has improved the most in the previous 12 months, while the situation in Ukraine has grown sharply worse after the start of the Russian special military operation, with the country’s economy shrinking by about a third.

Last year Economist named Italy as the country of the year for its political achievements. Past winners included such countries as Uzbekistan (for abolishing slavery), Columbia (for making peace), Tunis (for embracing democracy).

At the start of December, the Financial Times named Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky the person of the year, and Time magazine granted the title of the person of the year to Zelensky and the spirit of Ukraine.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response that the Time’s choice was in line with the pan-European Russophobic sentiment.