Russia has not ruled out further discussions, U.S. official says

Russia did not bring "anything new" to a meeting with NATO on Wednesday on the standoff over Ukraine but, importantly, it did not reject the idea of further discussions, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told a news conference.

"What ... I think Russia heard loudly and clearly from all allies today is it's very hard to have dialogue, to have diplomacy that is conducive to success when in fact you have 100,000 troops live-fire exercises, propaganda, disinformation, other efforts to subvert that environment," she added.

She added that if Russia wants to reach a solution through diplomacy - "and I certainly hope that they do, because the consequences for them will be quite severe if they don't" - it should de-escalate.