Russia welcomes arrival of oil tanker in Cuba after Trump softens approach to U.S. blockade

The Kremlin on Monday welcomed the arrival of a Russian-flagged oil tanker to Cuba, saying energy supplies to the fuel-starved island had been discussed with the U.S. ahead of its delivery.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow considered it its duty to help Cuba, according to Russian state news outlet RIA Novosti. He added that Havana needed petroleum products amid a de facto U.S. oil blockade.

A Russian oil tanker carrying a humanitarian shipment of 100,000 tons of crude oil reportedly arrived in Cuba earlier in the day.

The sanctioned Anatoly Kolodkin vessel was said to be waiting to unload shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had “no problem” with a Russian crude tanker delivering fuel to Cuba.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said: “If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem with that, whether it’s Russia or not.”

The shipment of crude oil is seen as something of a lifeline to the Caribbean nation, which is facing its biggest test since the collapse of the Soviet Union amid a deepening energy crisis.

Cuba had been heavily dependent on oil supplies from Venezuela, but it has effectively been cut off since early January when the U.S. launched an extraordinary military operation to depose Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The Trump administration subsequently threatened to impose tariffs on any country that sent crude to Cuba, prompting the likes of Mexico to halt shipments. The Kremlin has previously shrugged off Trump’s tariff threats, pointing out that Washington and Moscow “don’t have much trade right now.”

Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel said last week that the island hadn’t received oil shipments in more than three months. The country, which has said it is holding talks with the U.S., has sought to dramatically increase its solar power generation amid the ongoing fuel shortage.

The island of roughly 10 million people has faced a series of power blackouts in recent weeks and the United Nations has warned that Cuban hospitals have been struggling to maintain emergency and intensive care services.

“Cuba is finished, they have a bad regime and they have very bad and corrupt leadership and whether or not they get a boat of oil it’s not going to matter,” Trump said Sunday.

“I prefer letting it in, whether it’s Russia or anybody else, because the people need heat and cooling and all of the other things that you need,” he added.