Russia plans to send a second oil tanker to Cuba, the Russian news agency Interfax reported today, citing Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev on the sidelines of the "Energoprom-26" forum, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
„An important meeting was held in St. Petersburg yesterday and Cuban representatives arrived. Cuba is under a complete blockade. Where did the oil shipment come from? "A Russian ship broke through the blockade, and a second one is currently loading, we will not leave the Cubans in trouble," Tsivilev said.
The Russian-flagged tanker "Anatoly Kolodkin", carrying about 700,000 barrels of crude oil, docked at the Cuban oil terminal in Matanzas earlier this week, marking the first significant delivery of oil to the island in about three months due to the US blockade.
The Kremlin said at the time that the issue of the delivery had been discussed with the US, but Moscow considered it its duty to support its friends like Cuba. "In the desperate situation that the Cubans are in, we cannot remain indifferent", said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
The administration of US President Donald Trump imposed a blockade on fuel imports to Cuba, but allowed the supply of Russian oil for humanitarian reasons, noting that such decisions would be made on a case-by-case basis.
The US cut off oil supplies from Venezuela to Cuba after capturing President Nicolas Maduro in a raid on January 3, with Donald Trump also threatening punitive tariffs on countries that supply oil to Cuba.