French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot says the European Union is preparing a 17th round of sanctions against Russia and hopes to coordinate the effort with the United States. "We Europeans will accompany this American initiative with a 17th package of sanctions and I committed yesterday to (US Senator) Lindsey Graham that we would try to coordinate both the substance and the timing of these two packages of sanctions," Barrot tells AFP in an interview. SOUNDBITE