A Russian oil tanker carrying 730,000 barrels of crude is heading to Cuba, according to maritime tracking data, challenging the US economic blockade tightened by President Donald Trump. The sanctioned vessel, Anatoly Kolodkin, loaded the oil in the Russian port of Primorsk on 8 March and was in the eastern Atlantic on Wednesday, bound for the communist island, analytics firm Kpler said.
The Russian-flagged ship, owned by state firm Sovcomflot, is scheduled to unload at the Matanzas oil terminal on Cuba's north coast around 23 March. The delivery comes as Cuba faces blackouts under a US embargo and Trump's threats to 'take over' the country, with the president stating on Monday he expects to have 'the honour of taking Cuba'.
Another tanker, the Hong Kong-flagged Sea Horse, loaded nearly 200,000 barrels of diesel in late January off Cyprus and has been sailing west across the Atlantic. On Wednesday it was in the northwestern Caribbean, about 1,500 km from Cuba. Cuba has imported no oil since 9 January, when Mexico delivered a shipment after the ouster of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.
Trump has intensified pressure on Cuba, cutting off Venezuelan oil shipments and threatening tariffs on countries selling oil to the island. The Anatoly Kolodkin is under sanctions from the US, EU and UK, but its voyage tests the blockade's effectiveness.
