Trump said he has lifted the oil embargo on Cuba: what we know
30 March 10:23
U.S. President Donald Trump signaled a sharp shift in his stance on blocking oil shipments to Cuba on Sunday, saying he had no objection to shipments from any country, as a Russian tanker approached a Cuban port with a cargo of oil. The Russian vessel, which is subject to sanctions and is part of the country’s so-called shadow fleet, was located near Cuba’s eastern coast on Sunday, according to ship-tracking data, and was expected to arrive at the port on Monday. Cuba’s economy has been virtually paralyzed by the de facto oil embargo imposed by Washington, writes "Komersant Ukrainian", citing Reuters.
Speaking to reporters aboard the presidential plane, Trump expressed sympathy for the Cuban people, who are in dire need of energy resources, and said that the communist government in Havana, in his view, would soon collapse on its own.
“If any country wants to send oil to Cuba right now, I have no problem with that, whether it’s Russia or not,” Trump said.
“Cuba is doomed. They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership, and whether they get a tanker with oil or not doesn’t matter,” Trump said. “I’d rather let it through, whether it’s Russia or someone else, because people need heating, cooling, and other things.”
According to data from the LSEG ship tracking system, the tanker Anatoly Kolodkin departed from the Russian port of Primorsk with a cargo of approximately 650,000 barrels of oil. According to other sources, the ship was carrying 730,000 barrels. The New York Times, citing a knowledgeable U.S. official, reported earlier that the U.S. Coast Guard had allowed the sanctioned vessel to proceed to Cuba, but the reasons for this were unclear.
