Putin will take advantage of every opportunity, every sign of weakness, and manipulate every angle he can to get his way (and remember his way is ultimately draining Russia of its wealth -- he runs a Kleptocracy). Removing sanctions would be a MASSIVE show of weakness, and would enable and reward Putin for his behavior. Notice how 'noise' wouldn't answer what the question? Because the only answer he'd be able to come up with is to lift sanctions -- without Putin changing his behavior or giving up the 'wins' he accumulated over the past 10 years. As I said to another pro-Putin poster, Putin takes a thousand steps forward, is expected to move one step back to ease sanctions, and somehow that's a positive result for America.