US administration goes from severe consequences on Russia if no ceasefire was agreed to Rubio on Meet the Press shutting down the option indefinitely. “I don't think new sanctions on Russia are going to force him to accept the ceasefire. They're already under very severe sanction. You could argue that that could be a consequence of refusing to agree to a ceasefire or the end of hostility. But there is no evidence that more sanctions, because sanctions take months and sometimes years to bite. And we may very well wind up in that place. I hope not. Because that means that peace talks failed. But we have to give opportunity for peace a chance”. “The minute you issue new sanctions, your ability to get them to the table, our ability to get them to table will be severely diminished. That moment may arrive. But when it comes, what you're basically signaling is, ‘There is no opportunity for peace at this point. So just let's put on more sanctions and allow more people to get bombed and more people to be killed’. And that's what we're trying to stop.