Rubio says US has 'run out' of new Russia sanctions

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to traveling journalists at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, on November 12, 2025, after the G7 foreign ministers meeting.
Photo: AP

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned reporters as he departed the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting that Washington has substantially exhausted its unilateral sanctions options against Russia, and urged partners to close enforcement gaps that allow Moscow to keep selling energy.

Rubio’s blunt assessment, and his public nudge toward Europe to act on enforcement, underlined growing US frustration with the limited levers left to pressure Russian authorities, ‘Al Mayadeen’ notes.

Rubio: “We’re running out of things to sanction”

Asked about further steps on Russia sanctions, Rubio said, “Well, I don’t know what more there is to do.”

State Department gave a report on the Secretary of State Marco Remarks to the Press, 12 November.

QUESTION: Secretary, on Russia sanctions, to what extent did that come up, like to further – to further implement some sanctions.

SECRETARY RUBIO: “Well, there’s not a lot left sanction from our part. I mean, we hit their major oil companies, which is what everybody’s been asking for. Obviously those have to be implemented, and it’ll take some time till you begin to feel it. But I mean, I don’t know what more there is to do. I mean, we’re running out of things to sanction in that regard.”

Rubio framed the problem not as a lack of will but as a structural limit, as sanctions can only bite if there are still meaningful economic channels to choke, and many of those channels have already been curtailed by previous US packages.

Having already hit major players such as Lukoil and Rosneft, and moved to target over 180 vessels associated with the “shadow fleet” of tankers, US policymakers now acknowledge that the remaining sectors are fewer and increasingly difficult to isolate.

Yet, the Russian economy is not simply collapsing under sanctions. Instead, Moscow is actively restructuring its model, pivoting toward deep bilateral energy agreements and building layers of self-sufficiency to offset Western pressure.

For example, Russia has broadened its oil exports to China, with crude shipments hitting 2.17 million barrels per day in the first ten months of 2024 and a share of 19.8 per cent of China’s total crude imports. On the institutional front, Russia continues to lean on frameworks such as OPEC+ and the BRICS grouping to anchor its role in the global energy system despite sanctions.

Shadow fleet: how energy revenues keep flowing

Western efforts to squeeze Russian oil revenues have prompted the rise of a so-called “shadow fleet”, an aggregation of ageing tankers, opaque shipowners, and murky flag registrations that allegedly help Moscow move crude to buyers while avoiding the normal market and regulatory checks.

European and British authorities have increasingly targeted these vessels, sanctioning ships, investigating illicit transfers, and exploring pre-authorized inspections, but the fleet remains large and resilient. Recent reporting and official moves show hundreds of vessels linked to circumvention and repeated efforts by the EU and UK to add more ships to sanction lists and to tighten maritime inspection regimes.

Rubio explicitly tied the enforcement problem to Europe’s proximity and responsibility, saying, “The shadow fleet is an enforcement mechanism, and obviously, sanctions have to be enforced.”

QUESTION: Shadow fleet?

SECRETARY RUBIO: “Well, shadow fleet is an enforcement mechanism, and obviously sanctions have to be enforced. So we don’t put sanctions and then not enforce them. We’re interested in enforcing them as well, so – but that’s more of an enforcement matter. And shadow fleet has come up because I do think there are things that the Europeans can do on shadow fleets since a lot of these are happening in areas much closer to them.”

Rubio on the Russian frozen assets: “There are some unintended consequences to doing that”

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, regarding Russian assets, will the U.S. get involved in Europeans’ plan to use the Russian frozen assets to support Ukraine? Was it discussed here today? Does the U.S. support the European plan?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Look, we – like anybody else, there are some unintended consequences to doing that, but we – I don’t have any official statement on that right now.

Rubio on Ukraine conflict

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, is it your assessment that Russia does not really want peace?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, we can only go by what we see. I mean, I think they’ve stated clearly what they want is they want the rest of Donetsk, and obviously the Ukrainians aren’t going to agree to that. So what we see now is they continue long-range strikes into Ukraine, obviously to degrade their electrical grid and try to demoralize the country or what have you, and they’ve made some gains in Donetsk… They’ve made a demand that Ukraine can’t agree to, and so that’s sort of where we are at this point.

QUESTION: How’s your relationship with Lavrov right now?

SECRETARY RUBIO: I haven’t talked to him in a month, but fine.

QUESTION: How did the last conversation go?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I mean, look, the last conversation I think it might be – the way I would characterize it is I think there was agreement on both sides that the next time our presidents meet, there has to be a concrete result. We have to know going in that we have a real chance to get something positive coming out. And we’d love to see that happen. I mean, we’d love to see this war end, but we can’t just continue to have meetings for the sake of meetings. And I think both sides sort of view it that way, at least that’s what I took from our conversations.

So my conversations with him have always been professional and productive.  But I mean, obviously we want to see results.

On the field, Russia remains firmly on the offensive in eastern and southern conflict zones.

As Moscow pushes to encircle key supply routes and expand control in Donetsk, Washington faces the stark reality that the battlefield momentum remains in Russia’s favor despite its best attempts at curtailing military efforts via financial pressure, ‘Al Mayadeen’ concludes.

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