US eases Cuba blockade and authorizes Russian oil tanker to reach island
The ship, carrying 700,000 barrels of crude oil, is expected to arrive by Tuesday, according to ‘The New York Times’
The United States has allowed a Russian oil tanker loaded with crude oil to reach Cuba, The New York Times reported on Sunday. The authorization by the Trump administration effectively eases the oil embargo that Washington had imposed on the island.
According to reports, the U.S. Coast Guard will allow the Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin to unload more than 700,000 barrels of crude oil. The tanker is currently just a few miles from the island, and is expected to enter Cuban waters on Sunday afternoon and reach its destination by Tuesday.
The ship’s arrival is expected to help alleviate Cuba’s energy crisis, which has caused serious problems in hospitals and restricted mobility on the island. The country is on the brink of economic collapse and mired in a humanitarian crisis due to shortages of all kinds of goods. This amount of oil is expected to power the island’s power plants for at least a week.
The Trump Administration has maintained a de facto blockade on all oil shipments to Cuba as part of its policy of pressure on Havana, which deepened after the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela last January. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has stated that the country has gone three months without receiving any oil imports.
The Times article, citing a US official as its source, states that it is not yet clear why the U.S. allowed the shipment through. Russia had announced several weeks ago that it was considering sending crude oil to Cuba for humanitarian reasons, even though the decision was seen as a challenge to Washington.
The U.S. authorization marks a shift in strategy following the economic stranglehold it had been imposing in an effort to bring about a change in leadership on the island. Trump’s policies are reshaping the global alliance system, but the arrival of a Russian ship in Cuba shows that the island still maintains ties with its historic ally in Moscow.
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