ST. PETERSBURG, Nov. 19 – Ukraine's real gross domestic product in January-October 2013 decreased by 0.6%, but the government hopes that there will still be slight growth in GDP over the full 12 months of this year, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has said.

"Unfortunately, Ukraine has not escaped this trend [of a slowdown in economic growth]," the Ukrainian prime minister said at a press conference in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.