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A Russian tanker carrying hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil sailed toward Cuba this week after President Donald Trump reversed course on blocking oil supplies to the island, saying he sees no reason to stop other countries from sending fuel there. Trump made the remarks as a sanctioned Russian vessel made its way across the Atlantic toward Cuban shores. “If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem with that, whether it’s Russia or not,” Trump said. He added that he believed Cuba’s government was already falling apart on its own. “Cuba is finished. They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership, and whether or not they get a boat of oil, it’s not going to matter. I’d prefer letting it in, whether it’s Russia or anybody else, because the people need heat and cooling and all of the other things that you need.” The tanker in question belongs to what is known as a shadow fleet, vessels that continue operating despite being under international sanctions placed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine in 2022. The ship is reported to be carrying around 730,000 barrels of crude oil. Three months without fuel The fuel crisis in Cuba has been developing over a period, but it intensified significantly after the U.S. aimed to halt Venezuelan oil deliveries to the island in the wake of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s removal on January 3. It became even more difficult when Trump cautioned other nations that supplying oil to Cuba would result in heavy tariffs. The threat was enough to persuade Mexico, an important oil provider for Cuba, to halt its shipments entirely. According to a report by The New York Times, the U.S. Coast Guard allowed the sanctioned ship to…

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Filed under: News - @ March 30, 2026 1:55 pm