Freedom House President David Kramer has called for the imposition of targeted sanctions against Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his family.

"Yanukovych has never cared about integrating his country into Euro­Atlantic institutions unless it would help him personally," the Voice of America radio station quoted Kramer as saying.

He recalled that an OSCE meeting of foreign ministers would be held in Kyiv this week.

"EU foreign ministers should follow the lead of Secretary of State John Kerry, who rightly decided not to attend," Kramer said.

"Those Western officials who travel to Kyiv should skip the formal meetings and appear among the protesters to show solidarity. They also should make clear that the government's use of force against protesters - authorities violently broke up several demonstrations over the weekend - would kill any possibility of future agreements with Europe as long as Yanukovych remains president," the human rights activist said.

In his opinion, the use of force "should trigger targeted sanctions along the lines of the Magnitsky legislation that the United States passed to hold accountable Russian officials involved in gross human rights abuses."

"Targeted measures against Ukrainian officials, including Yanukovych and his sons, may be the only way to prevent further bloodshed, to secure [former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia] Tymoshenko's release, to reverse the legislation that bans [UDAR Party leader Vitali] Klitschko from running for president and to renew Ukraine's hopes for integrating with the West," Kramer said.

"Such measures would also send a strong message of support to the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who have been protesting Yanukovych's second attempt in a decade to hijack Ukraine's future," he said.