US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the United States has practically exhausted the arsenal of available targets for imposing new large-scale sanctions against Russia.
As reported by "Hvylya", he said this while speaking to journalists after the G7 Foreign Ministers' meeting in Canada.
According to Rubio, Washington has few significant levers left for imposing new painful sanctions. Now, efforts in this direction will focus on ensuring compliance with existing sanctions.
He emphasized that after several waves of restrictions affecting key sectors of the Russian economy, the financial system, energy, and a number of high-ranking officials and oligarchs, Washington will focus on maintaining the effectiveness of these sanctions.
Furthermore, Rubio acknowledged that Russia is indeed using a "shadow fleet" to circumvent oil restrictions. He characterized the fight against it as a "sanctions enforcement mechanism" rather than a pretext for new restrictions.
The US Secretary of State believes that European countries must now play a more active role in this process, as a significant portion of the ships pass closer to their territories.
"From our side, there isn't much left to sanction. We have hit their largest oil companies, which is what everyone was waiting for. Honestly, I don't know what else can be done. In this regard, we have almost exhausted our options for new sanctions. There are things the Europeans could do about the shadow fleet. Since much of this is happening much closer to them," he said.
In addition, Rubio spoke about the difficulties associated with supplying air defense systems to Ukraine, which, among other things, need to be replenished due to losses from Russian strikes.
"We discussed defensive weapons with Kyiv that will allow them to protect their energy system. I know that we are constantly in technical negotiations about what equipment they need. But ultimately, if this equipment is destroyed a week after installation, that remains a problem. And it has been this way for the last two or three years," the US Secretary of State noted.
Earlier, Putin's side named the main "interests" in negotiations on Ukraine.
