US, allies move to isolate Russia; mull G-8 eviction

US and its western allies began shutting down ongoing bilateral and multilateral engagements with Russia to force it pull out of Ukraine.

The G- 7 countries — the US, UK, Canada, F rance, Italy, Germany and Japan — announced they were suspending participatory meetings for the coming Sochi G-8 meet.

Leaders of the European Council and the European Commission signed off on that too. And the NATO — with its 28 members — slammed Russia in another statement.

Russia could even be evicted from G-8.

For itself, the United States said it was also ending all scheduled bilateral meetings with Russia, and said targeted economic sanctions were very much on the table.

Secretary of state John Kerry went a bit further in a string of Sunday morning TV interviews saying all options were on the table, which in diplospeak includes military action.

But the administration walked that back later. “We are focused on political and economic and diplomatic options,” said a senior administration official on background.

Targeted sanctions, as used against Pyongyang and Tehran, include action against specific entities such as banks, companies isolating the target country, and crippling it internally.

In short, Putin’s intransigence could imperil Russian economy.

Secretary Kerry will be in Kiev on Tuesday for talks with the new leaders of Ukraine and civil society members to assure them of the continued support of the US.