BRUSSELS. Feb 21 (Interfax) - European sanctions are not a critical question for anyone in Kyiv, Russian Permanent Representative to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov said.
"Under the current circumstances, which regretfully exist in Kyiv and a number of other cities and regions of Ukraine, I believe that the question of sanctions is not critical to anyone," he said.
"In fact, this is a political decision not having any factual substance," Chizhov underscored.
"The way these sanctions may be implemented has been defined, but it is so far unclear to whom they may refer," the Russian envoy stated.
"Leaving aside the efficiency of sanctions in this particular situation and as a whole, I can only hope that they will be imposed on the real culprits of the Kyiv events, the surge of violence, which has killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds. Those who calls their supporters to arms and urge a violent ousting of the democratically elected administration of the country," Chizhov stressed.
He said he did not know how the European Union was planning to find those people but remarked, "The great quantity of EU officers on Maidan and around it might be of help."
The Russian envoy pointed to the widespread violations of the truce agreement by the protesters in Kyiv and Western Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russian State Duma International Affairs Committee Chairman Alexei Pushkov suspects Western interference in Ukrainian affairs of aiming at a closer proximity to the Russian borders.
"The West is tightening its grip on Yanukovych. And this is not about Ukraine itself. If we disregard the superfluous husk, the final goal is to bring NATO closer to Russian borders," Pushkov wrote on Twitter.
It was reported earlier that the EU Foreign Affairs Council decided at a meeting on February 20 in Brussels to introduce sanctions against Ukraine. The list of sanctions includes visa restrictions for Ukrainian officials, the freezing of their financial assets. The EU Foreign Affairs Council also supported the proposal to stop exports to Ukraine of military and special equipment that can be used for repressive actions.
The scope of sanctions against the persons responsible for the violence will depend on the Ukrainian events, the EU Council said on Thursday.
The success of the mission of the foreign ministers of Poland, Germany and France and the overall situation in Ukraine will be kept in mind, the EU Council told Interfax.
Meanwhile, the drawing up of a list of Ukrainians who will face sanctions will begin already on February 21.
Canada has imposed sanctions on Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and senior government officials, the Canadian channel CBC said, quoting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The U.S. administration is urgently considering a range of sanctions against Ukraine, White House spokesman Joshua Earnest said.
He said a military campaign was not an option.