Overview
- The Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin reached Cuba with about 730,000 barrels and is set to unload at Matanzas, marking the first major fuel delivery in nearly three months.
- U.S. Coast Guard cutters near the route received no order to intercept the vessel, according to reporting that cited an informed U.S. official.
- The Kremlin said it raised the voyage with U.S. counterparts, and spokesman Dmitri Peskov described the shipment as assistance to Cuba.
- Experts say the oil will offer only brief relief because Cuba needs about 100,000 barrels a day, produces roughly 40,000, and must spend weeks refining and distributing this cargo, as shortages have already driven daily blackouts and stalled aid deliveries.
- President Trump said he had nothing against other countries sending fuel and argued the tanker’s arrival would not change conditions on the island.