Secretary of State Marco Rubio has made some fresh remarks to the press which reveal a deep irony while demonstrating the limited effectiveness of far-reaching anti-Moscow sanctions on the course of the war in Ukraine. The United States has nearly run out of effective targets for sanctions against Russia, he conceded in a frank moment Wednesday, coming soon on the heels of the Trump admin decision to impose new penalties on two of the country’s biggest oil producers.
“We’ve sanctioned their main oil firms – exactly what everyone’s been asking for,” Rubio told reporters following a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Canada. “At this point, there’s not much left to target. We’re running out of options.” His attitude in answering the question seemed to be one of quiet exasperation or frustration and conveyed a sense of ‘what more do you want from us?’…
Secretary of State Rubio says the U.S. has nearly exhausted its options for new sanctions against Russia. “There’s almost nothing left to sanction. We’ve already hit their largest oil companies,” he said. The focus now shifts to enforcing existing sanctions and targeting Russia’s… pic.twitter.com/zq0gNsYjZV
— NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) November 13, 2025
Rubio had previously said President Trump approved sanctions on energy giants Lukoil and Rosneft largely at the urging of Ukraine and its European backers.
According to more from the comments:
The secretary of state also touched upon the issue of the so-called shadow fleet that Russia uses to bypass oil restrictions. He described the fight against it as “an enforcement mechanism” rather than a reason for introducing new sanctions. Rubio expressed the view that European partners should play a more active role in this process, as a significant number of the vessels operate closer to their territories.
When asked whether Russia truly seeks peace, Rubio replied that such things can only be judged by actions. In his opinion, Moscow has “stated clearly what they want is they want the rest of Donetsk, and obviously the Ukrainians aren’t going to agree to that”.
Rubio also interestingly seemed to acknowledge the current futility of sending more equipment to protect Ukraine’s pummeled energy infrastructure:
According to Rubio, discussions are underway on providing both specialised equipment and defensive weapons to protect energy facilities. However, the key problem remains the high risk that the equipment could be destroyed shortly after installation.
“If that equipment is ultimately destroyed a week later after it’s installed, that remains a problem. And that’s been the history of the last two or three years,” Rubio concluded.
All of this illustrates perhaps why Trump has lately signaled he’s ready to wash his hands of involvement in trying to achieve Ukraine peace, and why he’s done with doing ‘direct’ weapons transfers to Kiev.
NEW!! G7 Demands Immediate Ceasefire in Ukraine, Vows to Increase Sanctions on Russia
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Joint Statement on Ukraine 👇 pic.twitter.com/SZmF22uLUp
— Alex Raufoglu (@ralakbar) November 12, 2025
Meanwhile Moscow insists that it has adapted successfully by redirecting trade toward non-Western markets, particularly major BRICS countries, despite India recently scaling back its purchases of Russian oil. The EU’s years-long strategy has been sanctions package after sanctions package – and we’re up to at least 19 at this point.
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