Overview
- The Anatoly Kolodkin, carrying about 730,000 barrels of crude, reached the port of Matanzas after the White House allowed the delivery on humanitarian grounds.
- Trump, who said Sunday he had no problem with countries sending oil to Cuba, framed the move as a one-off allowance rather than a broader change in sanctions.
- The Kremlin said it raised the tanker’s passage with U.S. officials, which helped avert a direct confrontation as the ship transited near Guantánamo Bay.
- Cuba will process Russia’s Urals crude at aging refineries, with experts estimating it yields roughly two weeks of diesel after several weeks of refining and distribution.
- Cuba had gone three months without tankers under tightened U.S. pressure on suppliers, driving blackouts, fuel rationing and hospital strain that this shipment is expected to ease only briefly.