US, EU play down sector-wide sanctions against Russia

                                               President Obama and Chancellor Merkel 

Officials in the US and European Union are playing down the prospect of punishing Russia with sanctions targeting entire industries, opting instead to focus on tightening pressure by targeting more individuals and companies.

Policymakers say they are concerned that broad- brush sanctions on Russia's energy and financial industries, the two areas mentioned as possible targets, risk provoking economically costly retaliation by Russia.

"The Europeans don't want to have a clear, transparent move to sectoral sanctions," said Robert Kahn, a senior fellow for international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. "What we might see, therefore, is sort of creeping into sectoral sanctions through the naming of the specific firms, so it wouldn't be necessarily the whole sector or all transactions, but it would be partial."

Gazprom, Russia's gas- export monopoly, on Monday threatened to cut off supplies to Ukraine, a reminder of the power Russia wields over energy supplies to the rest of Europe. A gas cutoff by Russia would wipe out half of Ukraine's supply and could severely disrupt supplies to the EU.