Ambassador: UK ministers did not decide to boycott Euro 2012 games in Ukraine
The UK government has never adopted a decision to boycott the Euro 2012 football championship’s matches to be held in Ukraine, Kyiv’s Ambassador to London Volodymyr Khandohiy told Interfax-Ukraine.
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The UK government has never adopted a decision to boycott the Euro 2012 football championship’s matches to be held in Ukraine, Kyiv’s Ambassador to London Volodymyr Khandohiy told Interfax-Ukraine.
“In fact, the government of the United Kingdom has not adopted such a decision,” he said.
This misunderstanding was triggered by an answer given by UK ministers, who told the media that the country’s high-ranking officials would not attend the UK national team’s group games, Khandohiy said.
“They mentioned several reasons, including the ministers’ busy schedule in light of preparations for the Olympic Games,” the Ukrainian diplomat said.
A UK Foreign Office spokesman explained to the media that the government supported the UK national team’s participation in Euro 2012, hoping that the championship would be successful both for the UK football players, fans, as well as the Ukrainians and the Poles, who co-host it, he said.
The Foreign Office spokesman did not rule out that the situation surrounding high-ranking UK officials’ attendance of Euro 2012 matches could change depending on the UK national team’s performance, the Ukrainian ambassador said.
“What they mentioned was the ministers’ busy schedule, as well as concern over instances of selective justice in Ukraine and problems with the rule of law. I would like to say that our position on these matters is clear: we have explained to UK representatives more than once that, in our opinion, it is unadvisable to link political issues and athletic events,” Khandohiy said.
“In conclusion, I would like to say that today any decision and the word boycott is absent from the UK political vocabulary,” he said.
UK media outlets reported, citing the Foreign Office, that the country’s government decided to boycott Euro 2012 matches to be held in Ukraine in protest over what they described as selective justice in the trial of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Not a single UK minister will attend the UK national team’s group matches, they said.
The UK national team will start its Group D games by facing France at the Donbas Arena stadium on June 11. It will then play with Sweden in Kyiv on June 15 and Ukraine in Donetsk on June 19.