Russia will send another oil-laden vessel to Cuba after the tanker Anatoly Kolodkin broke the island nation’s maritime blockade this week, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev said at the Energoprom-2026 forum.
“A major meeting took place yesterday in St. Petersburg. Representatives of Cuba were in attendance. Cuba is under a complete blockade, it has been cut off. Where did the oil shipment come from? A vessel of the Russian Federation broke through the blockade. A second one is currently being loaded. We will not abandon the Cuban people in their time of need,” Tsivilev was quoted as saying by Russia’s state-controlled news agency TASS.
Despite the maritime blockade that the U.S. has been enforcing since the start of the year, earlier this week the Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin (IMO: 9610808) did indeed reach the port of Matanzas laden 100,000 metric tons of crude oil, which analysts said would provide the island with energy for several weeks.
Washington decided not to intercept the vessel, with President Donald Trump saying he “did not see a problem with it.” Asked whether he was concerned that revenues from these deliveries could help Vladimir Putin, the American president replied:
“How does that help him? He loses one boatload of oil, that’s all… It doesn’t bother me much. It’s not going to have an impact. Cuba is finished. They have a bad regime, they have very bad and corrupt leadership. And whether or not they get a boat of oil is not going to matter. I’d prefer letting it in, whether it’s Russia or anybody else. The people need heat and cooling and all the other things that you need.”
The Anatoly Kolodkin broke the U.S. maritime blockade around Cuba on Monday, March 30. Russia’s Transport Ministry announced that day that the tanker had successfully reached its destination and was preparing to unload its “humanitarian shipment” of crude oil. However, according to data from the vessel-tracking service Starboard Maritime Intelligence, the ship reached port only the following day, Tuesday, March 31. The Anatoly Kolodkin remains in Matanzas as of April 2, 2026.
Pressure on Havana intensified late last year when U.S. forces intercepted a vessel carrying Venezuelan oil bound for Cuba. After seizing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a military operation on Jan. 3, the U.S. administration demanded an end to fuel deliveries to the island and threatened to impose tariffs on countries supplying oil to Cuba.
