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The Russian Foreign Minister Serguéi Lavrov announced on Wednesday, during a visit to China, that Russia is committed to continue sending oil to Cuba as humanitarian aid.
"We have sent the first tanker ship with 100,000 tons (700,000 barrels) of oil to Cuba. Of course, this will probably last for a couple of months; I'm not a specialist," he said.
"I have no doubt that we will continue to provide that assistance and that China, of course, will also continue to participate in this cooperation," Lavrov added.
Regarding possible actions by the Donald Trump administration to curb the shipment of Russian fuel to Cuba, Lavrov expressed hope that the United States will not return to the days of "colonial wars."
The announcement has been interpreted as support for the progress of the Universal oil tanker, belonging to the state-owned Russian shipping company Sovcomflot, which has been sanctioned by the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom, moving from the Baltic Sea to the Caribbean with an estimated arrival on April 29.
The ship crossed the English Channel on April 8th, escorted by a Russian frigate to avoid issues with British authorities.
Jorge Piñón, researcher at the Energy Institute of the University of Texas, had warned that the Universal had a high probability of heading towards Cuba.
This second shipment was announced on April 2 by Russian Energy Minister Serguéi Tsiviliov during the Energoprom-2026 forum in St. Petersburg, days after the first Russian tanker, the Anatoly Kolodkin, unloaded 730,000 barrels of crude oil at the port of Matanzas on March 31, the largest cargo received by the island in nearly three months.
Tsiviliov was explicit in his rhetoric: "Cuba is under total blockade; it is completely isolated. Where did the oil shipment come from? A Russian ship broke the blockade. A second ship is being loaded right now, and we will not leave the Cubans in trouble."
However, that first shipment barely covered between seven and ten days of consumption on the island, which requires between 90,000 and 110,000 barrels daily but only produces about 40,000.
Miguel Díaz-Canel himself acknowledged that the fuel "will help in the coming weeks," although it is not enough given the magnitude of the crisis.
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