Updated March 29, 2026, 10:21 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on March 29 confirmed that he would allow a Russian tanker to supply Cuba despite the blockade against the island.
The United States has blocked shipments from Venezuela, which supported Cuba before the U.S. removed its former leader, Nicolas Maduro. Ship-tracking data showed the sanctioned Russian-flagged tanker, Anatoly Kolodkin, was just off the eastern tip of Cuba and due to reach the port of Matanzas on March 30, Reuters reported, citing Cuban news site Cubadebate.
“I told them if a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem with that, whether it’s Russia or no,” Trump told reporters March 29 aboard Air Force One. “Whether or not they get a boat of oil, it’s not going to matter. I’d prefer letting it in, whether it’s Russia or anybody else, because the people need heat and cooling and everything else.”
The oil would provide relief to Cuba, which, according to President Miguel Diaz-Canel, has not received any oil imports for three months. The lack of oil led to strict rationing of gasoline and worsened an energy crisis that resulted in power outages across Cuba.
The New York Times, citing an unnamed U.S. official, reported on March 29 that the Coast Guard allowed the sanctioned Russian tanker full of crude oil to reach Cuba.
Trump repeated his vow that Cuba would be next, which critics have worried could mean military action against the island nation after the military removal of Venezuela’s leader and the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. By “next,” Trump has said that could mean helping free it or “taking it.”
“Cuba’s a mess,” Trump said. “It’s a failing country. It’s going to fail. We’ll be there to help it out.”
Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose parents immigrated from Cuba, have said the communist government must be overhauled or replaced for the country to thrive.
“If other countries want to do that, 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.”
