Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov says that authorities in Kiev are driving the country into the depths of economic depression, while brainwashing ordinary Ukrainians into believing that their political predecessors and 'Russian aggression' are to blame for their troubles.

In a comment posted Saturday on his Facebook page, Azarov stated that "the Kiev regime is brainwashing Ukrainians using several myths. Let's take a look at a couple of them: [The first is that] the economy is collapsing, and the people are worse off because Russia is an aggressor and there is a war going on."

The second myth, according to the former prime minister, is that "'our predecessors stole everything.' However, as the folk saying goes, 'he who shouts 'get the thief!' the loudest is a thief himself', and so it is in this case. The economic results of the first half of 2015 have been compiled. Raw statistics show that the country's exports have fallen by 40 percent (!) compared with the first half of 2013, in quantitative terms by $12 billion. That is, in one year, exports have fallen by approximately $25 billion."

With these figures in mind, Azarov poses a simple question: "Who has reduced the inflow of exchange into the country? The old government, Russia, or [current Prime Minister] Yatsenyuk?"

The former prime minister follows on with a series of worrying questions: "What will happen to the incomes of our people? With about the exchange rate? If exports continue to fall at the current rate, what will happen to our export-oriented economy? The regime in Kiev, instead of fixing the economy, is running around the world with its hand outstretched, begging for loans, while the country's enterprises have stopped. And who will repay the loans? How much long can the people believe in these myths?"

The PM leaves a postscript, referring to the lost markets in Russia and the other countries of the Eurasian economic space. He notes that "losing export markets is easy, but regaining them can be impossible. Competitors occupy them quickly and sometimes, forever."

Ukraine is presently in the depths of a deep political and economic crisis. Hit by a decline in trade with neighboring Russia, civil war in the country's east, and financial panic brought on by the collapse of the country's currency, the Ukrainian economy is presently teetering on the verge of default. Earlier this month, the country's National Bank announced that the country's debt will reach 95 percent of GDP this year, with debt presently standing at roughly $70 billion, of which some $40 billion is owed to international lenders.