On March 19, 2026, an old Soviet-era Lada car passes in front of a truck belonging to a private Cuban company (mipyme) parked in front of a gas station loaded with imported IsoTank fuel in Havana.
Adalberto Roque AFP | Getty Images
US President Donald Trump says he has “no problem” with Russian oil tankers delivering fuel to Cuba, appearing to reverse his administration’s oil blockade as the country faces a deepening energy crisis.
“If a country wants to send oil to Cuba right now, I don’t have a problem with it, whether it’s Russia or not,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday.
His comments came as the sanctioned Russian-flagged oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin was en route to Cuba with an estimated 730,000 barrels of crude oil on board.
The tanker is reportedly scheduled to arrive at the port on Monday and is seen as something of a lifeline for the Caribbean nation, which is facing its biggest challenge since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Cuba was heavily dependent on oil supplies from Venezuela, but has been effectively cut off since early January, when the United States launched an extraordinary military operation to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The Trump administration then threatened to impose tariffs on countries exporting oil to Cuba, and countries such as Mexico halted oil shipments. The Kremlin has previously dismissed Trump’s tariff threats, noting that the United States and Russia “currently don’t have much trade.”
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said last week that there had been no oil shipments to Cuba for more than three months. The communist country, which announced it is in talks with the United States, aims to significantly increase solar power generation as fuel shortages persist.
The island of about 10 million people has faced a series of power outages in recent weeks, and the United Nations has warned that Cuba’s hospitals are struggling to maintain emergency and intensive care services.
“Cuba is finished. Their regime is bad, their leadership is so bad and corrupt, it doesn’t matter if they get the oil ships or not,” Trump said Sunday.
“Whether in Russia or anywhere, I prefer to allow it, because people need heating and cooling and everything else they need,” he added.
