Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on March 25, 2026
2 min readLast updated: March 25, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleRussia has begun supplying fuel to Cuba under the designation of humanitarian aid amid a worsening energy crisis marked by persistent blackouts and disrupted imports. The U.S. Treasury tightened its sanctions waiver, excluding transactions involving Cuba as the island struggles with a crumbling grid
MOSCOW, March 25 (Reuters) - Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev said on Wednesday that Russia was supplying fuel to Cuba as humanitarian aid.
Tsivilev, who was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the ministry's conference, did not elaborate further.
The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday changed the terms of a waiver it had granted to sales of Russian-origin crude and petroleum products already loaded on tankers to specifically exclude transactions involving North Korea, Cuba and Crimea.
Power blackouts are now the norm in Cuba, which has received only two tankers at its ports this year bringing imported oil cargoes, LSEG data showed.
A tanker carrying fuel originally bound for Cuba on Friday changed its destination to Trinidad and Tobago, according to LSEG ship-tracking data, a blow for the island amid a severe fuel scarcity that has triggered power blackouts.
(Reporting by Olesya Astakhova; writing by Vladimir SoldatkinEditing by Tomasz Janowski)
Russia is supplying fuel to Cuba as humanitarian aid to help the country cope with severe fuel shortages and frequent power blackouts.
Cuba's fuel crisis has been triggered by supply disruptions, heightened by US sanctions which specifically exclude transactions involving Cuba.
According to LSEG data, Cuba has received only two tankers bringing imported oil cargoes so far this year.
Recent US sanctions have changed the waiver terms, excluding transactions with Cuba and further restricting Russian oil shipments to the island.
A tanker carrying fuel originally bound for Cuba changed its destination to Trinidad and Tobago, worsening Cuba's fuel scarcity.
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