French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Thursday that the European Union is preparing to hit Russia with a 17th round of sanctions, describing President Vladimir Putin as the "sole obstacle" to peace in Ukraine,
France 24 reports.
The 27-nation bloc has imposed unprecedented penalties on Russia in response to its invasion, and said this year it would not lift sanctions before Putin's "unconditional" withdrawal of forces from Ukraine.
"We Europeans will accompany this American (sanctions) 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 told AFP in an interview.
Graham has rallied dozens of lawmakers from both parties to support a plan to impose additional sanctions on Moscow as well as tariffs on countries that buy Russian energy, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
Barrot took aim at Russia's president during the interview, saying: "It is now crystal clear that the only obstacle to peace today in Ukraine is Vladimir Putin."
Moscow's forces launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 in a bid to seize control that Kyiv thwarted with the help of international assistance provided primarily by the United States and countries in Europe.
Ukraine "accepted an unconditional ceasefire and yesterday it agreed to conclude an agreement on critical minerals with the United States", Barrot said.
That, "according to statements by Ukrainian officials, corresponds I would say to Ukraine's expectations of engaging in economic cooperation with the United States, but also with other countries", he said.
