MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/. Ukraine is approaching the 30th anniversary of its independence (August 24 — TASS) with disappointing results since the past seven years have led to a scientific and technical, socioeconomic and cultural degradation of the country, Ukraine’s former prime minister (2010-2014) Nikolai Azarov told a TASS correspondent.

"Unfortunately, there is absolutely nothing to celebrate," he thinks. "The state has turned into a country governed from the outside. The Americans established their puppet administration which rules the country at absolutely every level: at the level of state administration, judicial power, law enforcement. All economic decisions are made under pressure from the IMF," he added.

The former prime minister noted that over three decades, the country has gone through several stages of economic development. After a rise in 2010 - 2013, there was "a terrible economic downfall which began in 2013 - 2014 and continues to this day." "The scientific and technical, socioeconomic, cultural degradation is obvious," he said.

The former prime minister cited some comparative data on the socio-economic state of the country over the past 30 years. "Now Ukraine produces approximately 70% of what it was producing in 1990. This is the worst outcome among post-Soviet countries. The population decreased from 52 mln to 30 mln, the average life expectancy decreased to 63 years for men and to 73 years for women," he noted.

According to him, today the country produces three times less electric power and steel than in 1990. The export structure has critically changed: hi-tech equipment which amounted to 22% of sales volume now makes up no more than 4%. "By various estimates, about 10 mln people left the country. So even with the current industrial downturn, Ukraine feels a deficit in its workforce," he said.

There are no breakthroughs in the foreign policy of the current administration either, according to the former prime minister. Official Kiev had a goal of joining NATO and the EU but "is not being accepted anywhere."

He separately noted the moral and political climate in the country which, according to him, "is being created following the templates of Western intelligence such as ‘Anti-Russia’." "A model is being shaped of such a country where the population should hate Russia, strive to fight with it. NATO countries are being invited to Ukraine to conduct drills, to deploy anti-rocket defense bases, maneuvers are conducted over the country’s territory to practice dropping bombs on Russia," he explained.

"One cannot help but mention that virtually a policy of ethnocide of the Russian population is being implemented inside the country, where the Russian language is banned legislatively and its use in the sphere of daily life and trade is punished by fines," the former prime minister added. "All of this leads to the moral and political, socioeconomic, all kinds of degradation," he concluded.