New Delhi: According to maritime analytics firm Kpler, sanctioned Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin is currently heading to Cuba, as it suffers blackouts under a US economic blockade. This comes after US President Donald Trump’s recent aggressive rhetoric against Cuba when he said he would have the “honor” of “taking Cuba in some form” and that “I can do anything I want” with the neighboring country.
The Russian tanker reportedly loaded 730,000 barrels of crude in the Russian port of Primorsk on March 8, and on Wednesday at 1600 GMT was in the eastern Atlantic, bound for Cuba. Its data said that the Russian vessel was scheduled to unload at the Matanzas oil terminal on the north of the island around March 23.
Trump warns Cuba
The US has recently intensified pressure on Cuba, a country with which its relations have not been good for some time now. Under Trump this has only worsened and become more pronounced after the US seized Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in January.
Trump has since cut off Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba and threatened to impose tariffs on any country selling oil to the country, stating that Cuba would receive “no more oil or money” as a result of his actions.
Cuba’s oil woes and Russian support
After US sanctions and pressure on Cuba, Russia has been one of the few countries to openly come out in support of Cuba. It is helping Cuba weather the impact of US sanctions primarily by stepping in as an alternative energy supplier.
As Washington tightened pressure on countries like Venezuela and Mexico to curb fuel exports to Cuba, the island has faced acute shortages, leading to blackouts and economic disruption. During such a time, Russia has begun sending shipments of crude oil and refined fuels directly to Cuba. These deliveries, though limited in scale compared to Cuba’s full needs, have been significant because they come at a moment when few other suppliers are willing to risk US retaliation.
Cuba has imported no oil since January 9, when Mexico delivered a shipment in the days after Maduro’s ouster. Mexico came under pressure from Trump to end its supplies to Cuba. The Russian-flagged Anatoly Kolodkin which is currently en-route to Cuba is listed as coming under sanctions against Russia by the United States, European Union and UK.