Marco Rubio has suggested the US does not have many other ways to sanction Russia after slapping penalties on two major oil giants in October.

Donald Trump’s most senior diplomat suggested he has been facing pressure from his counterparts to pile on the punishments for Russia over its invasion of Ukraine .

But he dashed any hopes of further sanctions when, just before a meeting of G7 foreign ministers on Thursday, he said: “Well, there’s not a lot left to sanction from our part, I mean, we hit their major oil companies, which is what everybody’s been asking for.”

The States did sanction Rosneft and Lukoil and their subsidiaries last month in the hope of damaging Russia’s war machine.

Exporting fossil fuels is the main way Russia funds its costly invasion of Ukraine, so weste

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