The European Council made a political decision that the sectoral economic sanctions against the Russian Federation will continue at least until the end of the year.

According to the Censor.NET with reference to European Pravda, this is stated in the published decision of the EU Council.

Key news contained in paragraph 2. Despite the claims of a significant number of European leaders that they do not intend to continue the sanctions, it was ultimately a political decision on the renewal of the sanctions regime until at least the end of 2015.

The reader may draw attention to the fact that the decision of the EU summit is not legally binding and must be confirmed".

Meanwhile, it poses no threat of relapse sanctions."

In accordance with the procedure applicable in the European Union, any decisions of the summit must be confirmed by another body of the European Union - the EU Council.

The postponement of this decision on the "few months" also does not bear risk. The validity of economic sanctions expire only at the end of July. Therefore, there is no reason too rush their continuation.

Important are also some other provisions of the decision of the European Council. In particular, the Council recognized the efforts of the government in the matter of reforms". This is hardly the first public argument in favor of the government Yatsenyuk. So far from Brussels sounded mostly criticism about the lack of speed of reforms.

Finally, the European Union officially recognized the existence of problems of the Russian propaganda machine.

To combat this component "hybrid war" will now be directed significant efforts and funds of the European countries.

Below is the full translation of the decision of the European Council (EU Summit).

1. The European Council called on all parties to the rapid and full implementation of the Minsk agreements, commitments, and emphasized the responsibility of the Russian side in this regard.

The EU is ready to support this process, particularly in regard to improving the capabilities and potential of the OSCE in monitoring and verifying the implementation of Minsk, and will continue efforts in the tripartite process (negotiations with the participation of Russia) on energy issues and implementation of the FTA between Ukraine and the EU.

2. The European Council decided that the duration of the restrictive measures against the Russian Federation, adopted on 31 July 2014 and reinforced September 8, 2014 (we are talking about sectoral economic sanctions against Russia), should be clearly linked to the full realization of the Minsk agreement, remembering that (the Minsk agreement) is expected to increase by 31 December 2015.

The necessary decisions (on the extension of sanctions) will be taken in the coming months. The European Council is ready to take further restrictive measures, if necessary.

3. The European Council recognizes and continues to condemn the illegal annexation of the Crimea and Sevastopol to the Russian Federation and remains faithful to the decision to implement this policy of non-recognition.

4. The EU will continue to support the reform process in Ukraine, jointly with other donors and in accordance with the terms of the IMF. The European Council called for the immediate adoption of the third package of macro-financial assistance to Ukraine (currently being considered by the European Parliament).

The Council recognized the efforts of the government of Ukraine in implementing reforms and called on it to intensify this activity.

5. The European Council underlined the need to challenge the current disinformation campaign being waged by Russia, and invited the high representative, in cooperation with member States and EU institutions to prepare before June action plan for strategic communications.

The establishment of a communication command is the first step in this direction.

Source: http://censor.net.ua/