Kremlin says 100,000-ton delivery is duty to support the Caribbean island.
On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov welcomed the arrival of a shipment of 100,000 tons of oil (700,000 barrels of oil) in Cuba.
He said that for Moscow “it is a duty to assist the Caribbean country” amid the energy crisis caused by U.S. President Donald Trump’s oil blockade.
“Of course, Russia considers it its duty not to stand aside and to offer the necessary assistance to our Cuban friends,” he said.
“The desperate situation in which Cubans now find themselves cannot, of course, leave us indifferent, so we will continue working on this matter.”
Peskov expressed satisfaction over the arrival of the Anatoli Kolodkin tanker in Cuba, the first oil shipment to reach the island in the past three months.
“At this moment the ship is awaiting unloading at the port of Matanzas,” about 100 kilometers from Havana, according to the Russian Transport Ministry.
Previously, U.S. authorities lifted sanctions for one month on oil in transit that had departed before March 12. However, Washington prohibited such supply in the case of Cuba, Iran and North Korea.
On Sunday, Trump said he has “no problem” with Cuba receiving Russian crude, stating, “They have to survive! … and whether or not an oil tanker arrives does not matter.”
On Jan. 29, Trump signed an executive order establishing tariffs on countries that supply oil to Cuba. This measure has resulted in prolonged daily blackouts and a near-total paralysis of the Cuban economy.
The arrival of the Russian tanker comes amid fuel shortages. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has described the U.S. blockade as a criminal policy. The shipment is expected to meet Cuba’s energy needs for several weeks.
Days earlier, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk criticized the Trump administration for prolonging a blockade that has lasted more than six decades and stressed that “nothing can justify the suffocation of a population.”
teleSUR/ JF
Sources: EFE – RT
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