Trump to relax oil blockade on Cuba as Russian tanker nears the island
An old Soviet-era Lada car passes a truck belonging to a private Cuban company (mipyme) parked in front of a gas station filled with IsoTank imported fuel on March 19, 2026 in Havana.
Adalberto Roque | Afp | Getty Images
US President Donald Trump said he had “no problem” with a Russian crude tanker carrying fuel to Cuba, reversing his administration’s oil blockade as the island grapples with a deepening energy crisis.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said: “Right now, if a country wants to send oil to Cuba, whether it’s Russia or not, I have no problem with that.”
His comments came as the sanctioned Anatoly Kolodkin, a Russian-flagged oil tanker, headed for Cuba carrying an estimated 730,000 barrels of crude oil.
The tanker is reportedly expected to arrive at the port on Monday and is seen as a lifeline of sorts for the Caribbean nation facing its biggest test since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Cuba has been heavily dependent on oil supplies from Venezuela, but it has been effectively disrupted since early January, when the United States launched an extraordinary military operation to depose Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The Trump administration then threatened to impose tariffs on any country sending crude oil to Cuba, prompting countries like Mexico to halt shipments. The Kremlin has previously shrugged off Trump’s tariff threats, stating that Washington and Moscow “don’t have a lot of trade right now.”
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said last week that the island had not received oil shipments in more than three months. The communist-run country, which said it was in talks with the United States, tried to significantly increase solar energy production due to the ongoing fuel shortage.
The island, home to about 10 million people, has faced a series of power outages in recent weeks and the United Nations has warned warned It was stated that Cuban hospitals had difficulty in maintaining emergency and intensive care services.
“Cuba is done for, they have a bad regime, very bad and corrupt leadership, and it won’t matter if they get a boatload of oil or not,” Trump said Sunday.
“Whether it’s Russia or someone else, I prefer to let it in because people need heating, cooling and everything else you need,” he added.
