KIEV, Jan. 31 – The Foreign Ministry has criticized the Ukrainian opposition, claiming that it is attempting to make Europe introduce sanctions on Ukraine.

"Sanctions against officials, and not against the whole of Ukraine, do not exist indeed, because the statutory documents of the Council of Europe envisage only two kinds of sanctions: either the whole delegation, including the opposition, is deprived of the right to vote, or the state is expelled from the Council of Europe," of the Foreign Ministry Information Policy Department Director Oleh Voloshyn said during a roundtable entitled "After Davos: Prospects of Ukraine's Foreign Policy and Energy Security" in Kiev on Tuesday.

He added that neither of these sanctions could be applied to only some officials, but that they will "affect Ukraine in general."

"Which of these sanctions can influence personally [Ukrainian President Viktor] Yanukovych? Which of these sanctions can hit judge [Rodion] Kireyev [who presided over the hearings on the gas case against former Ukrainian Premier Yulia Tymoshenko] or the prosecutor general? None of them can do this. They will damage Ukraine in general, including those citizens that vote for opposition parties," Voloshyn said.