Stoke's Council of Elders have said they will boycott football tournament Euro 2012 in protest at the jailing and subsequent treatment of Ukraine's opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko. A spokesman for the Elders said they would only visit Ukraine if Ms Tymoshenko is released from prison and human rights in the country are improved.
The councils stance has been backed by German chancellor Angela Merkel, and other EU leaders have since said they may join Stoke and Germany in boycotting all matches held in the Ukraine, who are co-hosting the event with Poland.
Ms Tymoshenko is being held in a prison in Kharkiv. Photographs surfaced last week of bruises on her body, which she says were inflicted by prison guards, but several Ukrainian celebrities have said the injuries were self-inflicted. Tymoshenko, the former prime minister, was jailed for seven years in October after a politically motivated show trial.
England is in the same qualifying group as Ukraine, and plays the host nation in Donetsk on 19 June.
Dave Holdcroft, Stoke's councillor for Europe, said the city council should make it clear that there will be no official Stoke presence at Euro 2012 unless Tymoshenko is released immediately and given medical treatment. If Kiev refuses to heed to Stoke’s concerns, England's three matches should be played in neighbouring Poland instead, or back home in Stoke.
The criticism from Stoke has provoked a sharp response from Kiev. On Sunday, foreign ministry press spokesman Niko Rotoshiv accused Stoke of cold-war thinking. "I didn't think that the statesmen of Stoke are capable of using the methods of the cold war. I hope this threat of a boycott is a big sweaty load of hairy bollocks."
In an apparent swipe at Stoke's cosy relationship with Russia, Rotoshiv added: "Other countries in the region have more problems with democracy than Ukraine, but Stoke politicians are happy to get their free tickets and shut up for events held there."
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