Russiawill send a second ship carrying oil toCubaas the island grapples with a US fuel blockade, Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev said Thursday.
Cuba has been suffering from anenergycrisis since January, when US forces abductedVenezuelapresident and Cuban allyNicolas Maduro. His removal deprived Cuba of its main oil supplier.
Washington then threatened to tariff any country that sold or provided oil to the island, although itallowed Russia to deliver a tanker earlier this weekfor "humanitarian reasons".
"A vessel from the Russian Federation broke through the blockade. A second one is now being loaded. We will not leave the Cubans in trouble," Tsivilev was quoted as saying by Russian state media.
Read moreCuba plunged into darkness amid nationwide blackout
Moscowhistorically maintains close ties withHavanaand has criticised Washington for attempting to block fuel deliveries. Since the blockade began, the communist-run island has endured weeks of blackouts, fuel rationing and food shortages.
A Russian tanker carrying 730,000 barrels of crude arrived in the Cuban port of Matanzas on Tuesday, providing the island with its first oil shipment since January.
US PresidentDonald Trump, whose administration has long regarded Cuba as a hostile regime, said on Sunday he had "no problem" with Russia sending oil to the island.
"Cuba's finished. They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership and whether or not they get a boat of oil it's not going to matter," he said.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Originally published on France24
