KIEV, June 7 - The UK government will boycott the Euro 2012 soccer tournament that begins Friday in protest against the "selective justice" being meted out to jailed Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, the Guardian reported.

The Foreign Office confirmed no ministers would attend England's three group-stage matches. England plays its first game against France on Monday in the eastern city of Donetsk. There will be no official British presence at England's two other qualifying games, against Sweden on June 15 in Kiev, and against the hosts Ukraine in Donetsk on June 19.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "The government fully supports England's participation in Euro 2012. We hope this is a successful tournament for the England team, the fans, and the people of Ukraine and Poland," according to the report.

He added, however: "No ministers will be attending group games at Euro 2012. We are keeping attendance at later stages of the tournament under review in the light of ministers' busy schedules ahead of the Olympics and widespread concerns about selective justice and the rule of law in Ukraine."

The announcement comes a week after France said its ministers will also boycott Euro 2012 matches in Ukraine to protest the treatment of Tymoshenko.

These concerns were shared by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, EU president Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.

Barroso and Van Rompuy have both said they will snub the Ukraine half of the June 8-July 1 event. Merkel has threatened to do the same but has not publicly announced a boycott.

Several European leaders including the Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, and Germany's president, Joachim Gauck, also called off a regional summit last month at the Ukrainian resort of Yalta.

Oleg Voloshyn, the foreign ministry spokesman in Kiev, told the Guardian he regretted the UK's "emotional" decision. He said: "There are multiple channels to express the British position as far as the Tymoshenko case is concerned. It has already been done in a clear and consistent way.

"The boycott of the sporting event that has nothing to do with politics is a sign that the British government is inclined to resort to emotional rather than deeply calculated steps. [They] damage football but don't influence in any positive way the situation with the issue that concerns London."

Diplomats indicated that ministers might turn up to later matches, but probably only in the – perhaps unlikely – event that the England team make it through the quarter-finals and reach a semi-final to be played in Poland's capital Warsaw.

The UK government had earlier indicated it was reviewing the situation. But Downing Street now finally appears to have lost patience with President Viktor Yanukovych, who is accused by his critics of showing increasingly authoritarian tendencies.

Tymoshenko, the former prime minister, was jailed for seven years in October after what her supporters say was a politically motivated show trial. Yanukovych has refused to release her despite weeks of EU pressure.

Tymoshenko staged a hunger strike in April after photos appeared showing bruises on her body. She claims prison guards assaulted her and punched her in the stomach. Ukrainian prosecutors say her injuries were self-inflicted. Tymoshenko is currently being held in Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine, where her condition is being monitored by German doctors. The city is the venue for Germany's first group stage match against the Netherlands on June 13.

The political debacle is a huge embarrassment for UEFA. Football's governing body in Europe had hoped that expanding the tournament eastwards would showcase the progress made by independent Ukraine since the collapse of communism. Instead it is now looks increasingly likely that Yanukovych will sit in the VIP box on his own, with European leaders shunning him.

The criticism from western Europe has provoked a sharp response from Kiev. The foreign ministry in Kiev has accused Berlin of cold-war thinking, while officials have suggested that the Germans should refrain from meddling in Ukraine's internal affairs. (gd/ez)