A Russian oil tanker carrying hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude arrived in Cuba in the early hours of Tuesday, providing some relief to the US-blockaded island nation. The Anatoly Kolodkin docked in Matanzas, east of Havana, carrying about 730,000 barrels of crude. It is the first crude shipment to the Caribbean country since the Trump administration tightened pressure on Venezuela, Cuba’s primary benefactor.
The Trump administration expanded a US blockade on Cuba, threatening countries that send oil to the communist country with tariffs. Yet it allowed the Russian tanker to enter, despite the ship being subject to US, European Union and British sanctions tied to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday the permission was “a decision that will continue to be made on a case-by-case basis for humanitarian reasons or otherwise,” and added that “there’s been no firm change in our sanctions policy.”
The ship arrived amid severe fuel and food shortages that have worsened Cuba’s economic crisis and caused several nationwide blackouts, including two in March. Cuba’s Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy posted on X: “Our gratitude to the Government and People of Russia for all the support we are receiving. A valuable shipment that arrives amidst the complex energy situation we are facing.”
Experts estimate the shipment could yield about 180,000 barrels of diesel, enough to meet Cuba’s daily demand for roughly nine to ten days. Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio wrote on X that the tanker’s arrival “is a sign of the brutal siege Cubans endure with heroism and stoicism. It’s a demonstration of the criminal cruelty of imperialism against a nation that refuses to be dominated.”
Edited by: Alex Berry