Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev has confirmed that Moscow is sending fuel shipments to Cuba in defiance of the recent US trade embargo on Havana.
“We are sending humanitarian aid. We are providing humanitarian support,” the minister said, adding that the move is intended to help the island cope with severe energy shortages caused by the US blockade.
The shipments come after the Trump administration halted subsidised Venezuelan oil deliveries that had previously sustained Cuba’s energy grid.
Tsivilev said the oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin, which departed from the Russian port of Primorsk on March 8, is expected to reach Cuba on Thursday or Friday.
Another Russian tanker has already delivered diesel to the island, indicating that the Kolodkin is only the latest in a series of fuel shipments aimed at easing the crisis.
Anatoly Kolodkin is already under US sanctions and has been accused of being part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” used to bypass Western restrictions.
Unlike its approach in Venezuela, the Russian government has ramped up efforts to assist Cuba, which remains heavily dependent on imported energy.
The move comes as the United States remains focused on the Iran conflict and the Middle East, allowing Russia to take full advantage of a 60-day sanctions relief period currently in place.
Russia has maximised fuel sales during this pause, earning nearly $18 million a day from oil and LNG exports — even to countries ideologically opposed to Moscow over the Ukraine war.
Many in Ukraine and the West fear that Russia could use these revenues to fund its military campaign in Ukraine.
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