![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775015833_706_.jpeg\")
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People play soccer in an abandoned swimming pool across from a tanker terminal along the port of Matanzas, Cuba, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ramon Espinosa)<\/p>\n
People play soccer in an abandoned swimming pool across from a tanker terminal along the port of Matanzas, Cuba, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ramon Espinosa)<\/p>\n
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Cuba produces barely 40% of its required fuel and relies on imports to sustain its energy grid. Experts say the anticipated shipment could produce about 180,000 barrels of diesel, enough to feed Cuba\u2019s daily demand for nine or 10 days.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe arrival of an oil tanker to a country has likely never generated so much news as the Russian one to Cuba,\u201d wrote Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fern\u00e1ndez de Coss\u00edo on X. \u201cIt\u2019s a sign of the brutal siege Cubans endure with heroism and stoicism. It\u2019s a demonstration of the criminal cruelty of imperialism against a nation that refuses to be dominated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some Cubans, however, wondered who would benefit from the newly arrived shipment. <\/p>\n
\u201cA ship comes; it gives us aid. But who does it go to? Because we don\u2019t get anything here,\u201d said 54-year-old Matanzas resident Leticia Almeida Barcel\u00f3. \u201cThe ships that come in with oil or anything else don\u2019t give us anything. Because we\u2019re still stuck with blackouts, with water shortages, with shortages and shortages, and we need everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
The vessel\u2019s arrival was watched by some fishermen as it docked under the early morning sun.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n \n AP AUDIO: Sanctioned Russian tanker docks in Cuba after US allows passage despite energy blockade\n <\/p>\n AP correspondent Cristiana Mesquita reports conditions for Cubans under the blockade have been dire. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been waiting for the ship to arrive because it\u2019s been some time since any ship entered,\u201d said 50-year-old Armando Ramirez. \u201cAnd it is needed here for the people, for Cuba.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Russian-flagged oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin, right, docks at an oil terminal in Matanzas, Cuba, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ramon Espinosa)<\/p>\n Russian-flagged oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin, right, docks at an oil terminal in Matanzas, Cuba, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ramon Espinosa)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Others celebrating the arrival included Matanzas resident Camilo Galves, who watched the ship dock from his home.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is undoubtedly a great relief for the Cuban people and a moment of great joy for us amid so many hardships we are experiencing,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s yet another sign that we are not alone in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Cuba used to receive most of its oil from Venezuela, but those shipments were halted ever since the U.S. attacked the South American country<\/a> and arrested its leader in early January.<\/p>\n Since then, Mexico also has halted its oil shipments to Cuba as Trump threatened in late January to impose tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to the island. The U.S. administration is demanding that Cuba\u2019s government ease political repression and liberalize its economy for a lifting of sanctions. <\/p>\n On Sunday night, Trump had said he had \u201cno problem\u201d with a Russian oil tanker<\/a> off the coast of Cuba<\/a> delivering relief to the island, <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Russian-flagged oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin arrives in Matanzas, Cuba, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ramon Espinosa)<\/p>\n Russian-flagged oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin arrives in Matanzas, Cuba, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ramon Espinosa)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t mind having somebody get a boatload because they need \u2026 they have to survive,\u201d Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington.<\/p>\n \u201cCuba\u2019s finished,\u201d he added. \u201cThey have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership and whether or not they get a boat of oil, it\u2019s not going to matter.\u201d<\/p>\n The vessel is sanctioned by the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom following the war in Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n On Monday, when asked about Trump\u2019s decision to allow the Russian oil tanker and not ones from other countries, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called it \u201ca decision that will continue to be made on a case-by-case basis for humanitarian reasons or otherwise,\u201d adding that \u201cthere\u2019s been no firm change in our sanctions policy.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio have been pressuring for major changes in Cuba\u2019s policies and governance. Both sides have said talks are taking place,<\/a> as the island\u2019s economic and energetic crises deepen.<\/p>\n![\"Russian-flagged](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775015833_147_.jpeg\")
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