The U.S. and the European Union may move as soon as today to impose tougher sanctions on Russia as Vladimir Putin ’s government formulates its response to the growing international pressure. The sanctions target “key sectors” of Russia’s economy — finance, defense and energy — and are being imposed in the face of Putin “doubling down” in support of separatists battling Ukrainian troops, U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken said yesterday. EU governments agreed yesterday to impose travel bans and asset freezes on Putin’s “cronies.” “The longer this goes on, there is the risk of further outrageous actions by the separatists or by Russia that deepen the international crisis,” Blinken said. “So there’s a need to take further action now to convince Russia to change course.” ‘Concrete Steps’ Russia hasn’t effectively put pressure on the separatists to force them to negotiate and hasn’t taken the “concrete steps” asked […]