An previous Soviet-era Lada automobile drives previous a truck belonging to a personal Cuban firm (mipyme) parked in entrance of a gasoline station with an IsoTank of imported gasoline in Havana on March 19, 2026.
Adalberto Roque | Afp | Getty Pictures
A Russian oil tanker carrying a humanitarian cargo of 100,000 tons of crude oil arrived in Cuba on Monday, in response to Russian state information outlet RIA Novosti, citing the nation’s Ministry of Transport.
The sanctioned Anatoly Kolodkin vessel was stated to be ready to unload shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump stated he had “no downside” with a Russian crude tanker delivering gasoline to Cuba.
Trump’s feedback appeared to mark an abrupt change in coverage given his administration had imposed an efficient oil blockade in opposition to Havana.
Chatting with reporters aboard Air Drive One on Sunday, Trump stated: “If a rustic needs to ship some oil into Cuba proper now, I’ve no downside with that, whether or not it is Russia or not.”
The cargo of crude oil is seen as one thing of a lifeline to the Caribbean nation, which is going through its largest check because the collapse of the Soviet Union amid a deepening vitality disaster.
Cuba had been closely depending on oil provides from Venezuela, however it has successfully been reduce off since early January when the U.S. launched a rare navy operation to depose Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The Trump administration subsequently threatened to impose tariffs on any nation that despatched crude to Cuba, prompting the likes of Mexico to halt shipments. The Kremlin has beforehand shrugged off Trump’s tariff threats, mentioning that Washington and Moscow “haven’t got a lot commerce proper now.”
Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel stated final week that the island hadn’t obtained oil shipments in additional than three months. The communist-run nation, which has stated it’s holding talks with the U.S., has sought to dramatically enhance its solar energy technology amid the continued gasoline scarcity.
The island of roughly 10 million individuals has confronted a collection of energy blackouts in latest weeks and the United Nations has warned that Cuban hospitals have been struggling to take care of emergency and intensive care providers.
“Cuba is completed, they’ve a foul regime and so they have very dangerous and corrupt management and whether or not or not they get a ship of oil it is not going to matter,” Trump stated Sunday.
“I desire letting it in, whether or not it is Russia or anyone else, as a result of the individuals want warmth and cooling and all the different issues that you simply want,” he added.
