Russia is sending thousands of barrels of oil to Cuba, The Guardian reported.
The sanctioned Russian tanker "Anatoly Kolodkin" loaded 730,000 barrels of crude oil at the Russian port of Primorsk on March 8 and was in the eastern Atlantic on the 18th, en route to Cuba, marine analytics firm Kpler said.
According to the data, the tanker, owned by Russian state shipping company "Sovcomflot", is due to unload at the Matanzas oil terminal in the north of the island around March 23.
Another tanker, the Hong Kong-flagged Sea Horse, loaded nearly 200,000 barrels of diesel in late January off Cyprus from another tanker, according to Kpler.
It left the Mediterranean on February 13 and has been sailing west across the Atlantic since then, slowing down between late February and early March and following an erratic course. On March 18, at around 4:30 p.m. local time, he was in the northwestern Caribbean, about 1,500 km from the Cuban coast.
The tanker "Anatoly Kolodkin" is under sanctions against Russia imposed by the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom.
We recall that Cuba fell into crisis after the United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and US President Donald Trump cut off Venezuelan oil supplies to Cuba and threatened to impose tariffs on any country that sells oil to the island country. This led to a power outage throughout the country and an increase in prices. Cuba has not imported oil since January 9.
In addition, Trump threatened to take over the island country. A few days ago, he said that he expected to have the "honor" to "take over Cuba in some form" and that he can do whatever he wants with the neighboring country.