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The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared this Saturday that Moscow will not seek permission from any country to export its oil, in a direct rhetorical response to Washington's pressures regarding Russian crude shipments to Cuba.
Dmitry Birichevsky, director of the Economic Cooperation Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that oil supply matters are a question of national sovereignty and that statements from other states regarding this "are met with perplexity."
Russia DOES NOT intend to seek permission from other countries to SUPPLY its oil, the official concluded in a new challenge to the Trump administration.
The statement was disseminated on social media by the Russian Embassy in South Africa, just days after the Kremlin itself admitted to having previously negotiated with Washington the authorization for the tanker Anatoli Kolodkin to arrive at the port of Matanzas.
The Anatoli Kolodkin docked in Matanzas on March 30 and 31 with approximately 100,000 metric tons of crude oil, equivalent to about 730,000 barrels, marking the first significant oil supply to Cuba in nearly three months.
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitri Peskov, confirmed that the shipment was discussed previously with the United States, and President Donald Trump authorized the entry of the vessel for humanitarian reasons: "I prefer to let it in, whether it comes from Russia or any other country, because people need heating, cooling, and other basic necessities."
The shipment barely covers between seven and ten days of total Cuban consumption, which requires between 90,000 and 110,000 barrels daily to sustain its electric system and economy.
The energy crisis in Cuba intensified since January 2026, when Venezuela suspended its shipments following the capture of Nicolás Maduro, and Mexico reduced its supplies, which accounted for 44% of Cuban imports in 2025.
The Trump administration has tightened the energy blockade on the island: on January 29, it declared a national emergency due to the threats posed by Cuba and authorized additional tariffs on countries that supply it with oil.
On March 20, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued license 134A explicitly excluding Cuba from the temporary exemptions granted to other countries for Russian crude in transit.
A second Russian vessel, the Sea Horse, carrying approximately 27,000 tons of diesel, was diverted to Trinidad and Tobago and then to Venezuelan waters due to pressure from the OFAC, with no confirmation of its arrival in Cuba.
The Russian Energy Minister Serguéi Tsivilev presented this second shipment: Tsivilev presented this second shipment on April 2 at the Energoprom-2026 forum in St. Petersburg as a break from the "blockade," in line with the propaganda narrative now adopted by Birichevsky.
Díaz-Canel and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero publicly thanked Russia for the shipment, although they acknowledged its insufficiency in the face of a deficit exceeding 2,000 megawatts and blackouts lasting up to twenty hours a day.
The Kremlin's bluster contrasts with reality: Russia negotiated with Washington over every barrel that arrived in Cuba, while the Cuban people continue to pay the price of seven decades of dictatorship with darkness and scarcity.
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