Politics

"Valuable cargo": Russian tanker unloads oil in Cuba

The Russian-flagged oil tanker "Anatoly Kolodkin" arrives in Matanzas. Photo: Ramon Espinosa/AP/dpa

Keystone

For the first time in three months, Cuba has received a shipment of oil from abroad. Despite the existing US oil blockade, the Russian oil tanker "Anatoly Kolodkin" entered the north-western port of Matanzas with Washington's approval and docked at an oil terminal, as can be seen in pictures. The Cuban Energy Minister, Vicente de la O Levy, thanked Moscow for this. "Valuable cargo arriving in the midst of the complex energy situation we are facing," he wrote on Platform X.

Keystone-SDA

31.03.2026, 18:49

According to media reports, the ship brought a shipment of 100,000 tons of oil to Cuba. Due to the oil embargo imposed by US President Donald Trump, the long-standing economic and energy crisis in the communist-ruled island state with around ten million inhabitants has worsened dramatically. There are repeated blackouts that severely affect the lives of the population.

White House: "No change to sanctions policy"

Trump announced on Sunday evening (local time) that he would allow Russian oil supplies. According to White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, however, this does not mean a change in current US policy towards Havana. "There has been no formal change in sanctions policy," she told journalists. The Russian oil tanker had been allowed to call at Cuba for humanitarian reasons. Decisions to allow oil deliveries would be made on a case-by-case basis.

Cuba lost its most important oil supplier Venezuela in January after the USA forced a change of leadership in the South American country with the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro. Washington also threatened Cuba's other oil suppliers with punitive tariffs. As a result, countries such as Mexico stopped their deliveries to Cuba.

Tense relations between Washington and Havana

Relations between Washington and Havana have been strained since the victory of the revolution in 1959 under the left-wing revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. Washington is striving for economic and political change in Cuba. Both governments have confirmed that they are already in talks. Following the US interventions in Venezuela and Iran, Trump has said that Cuba is "next in line". Havana has ruled out changing its socialist system.