Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov, in a television interview Thursday, said bilateral trade between his country and Russia had fallen by 25 percent in the first eight months of this year, RIA Novosti reported.
"This is a lot," he said, blaming "particular measures taken by officials, who, very probably, are not aware of what they are doing."
He was careful not to accuse Russia of exerting political pressure on his country. "We do not use that sort of phrasing," he said, referring to his own and Ukrainian president Victor Yanukovych's speeches.
