On March 19, 2026, an old Soviet-era Lada car passes in front of a truck belonging to a private Cuban company (mipyme) parked in front of a gas station loaded with imported IsoTank fuel in Havana.
Adalberto Roque AFP | Getty Images
The Kremlin on Monday welcomed the arrival of a Russian-flagged oil tanker in Cuba, saying it had discussed energy supplies to the fuel-starved island with the United States ahead of its handover.
According to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian government believes it has an obligation to support Cuba. He added that Havana needs petroleum products amid a de facto oil blockade by the United States.
A Russian oil tanker carrying 100,000 tons of crude oil and humanitarian aid reportedly arrived in Cuba early in the morning.
The sanctioned ship Anatoly Kolodkin was said to have been waiting to unload shortly after US President Donald Trump said there would be “no problem” with Russian oil tankers transporting fuel to Cuba.
“If a country wants to send oil to Cuba right now, whether it’s Russia or not, I have no problem with that,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday.
As the energy crisis deepens, crude oil shipments are seen as a lifeline for the Caribbean nation, which is facing its biggest challenge since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Cuba was heavily dependent on oil supplies from Venezuela, but has been effectively cut off since early January, when the United States launched an extraordinary military operation to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The Trump administration then threatened to impose tariffs on countries exporting oil to Cuba, and countries such as Mexico halted oil shipments. The Kremlin has previously dismissed Trump’s tariff threats, noting that the United States and Russia “currently don’t have much trade.”
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said last week that there had been no oil shipments to Cuba for more than three months. The country, which announced it is in talks with the United States, aims to significantly increase solar power generation as fuel shortages persist.
The island of about 10 million people has faced a series of power outages in recent weeks, and the United Nations has warned that Cuba’s hospitals are struggling to maintain emergency and intensive care services.
“Cuba is finished. Their regime is bad, their leadership is so bad and corrupt, it doesn’t matter if they get the oil ships or not,” President Trump said Sunday.
“Whether in Russia or anywhere, I prefer to allow it, because people need heating and cooling and everything else they need,” he added.
