Russian oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin arrives in Cuba

Image via Granma on Facebook

Various Sources

The Russian oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin, carrying approximately 100,000 tons of crude oil and flying the Russian flag, arrived in Cuba Monday, March 30 according to the Russian Ministry of Transport. It is currently in the port of Matanzas, awaiting unloading.

This aid shipment from Russia marks the first oil tanker to arrive in Cuba in about three months, a consequence of the oil blockade imposed on the Caribbean nation following the signing, last January, of an Executive Order by the Trump Administration intensifying the decades long cruel and illegal US sanctions regime.

Throughout its journey, the tanker sailed under the Russian flag, emphasizing its state affiliation. During its transit through international waters, particularly the English Channel, the vessel was escorted by a Russian warship indicating the Russia intended for this solidarity shipment to arrive unmolested.

Although Trump, of course, did not frame it this way, the US government was forced to backdown as it otherwise would have had to militarily intercept a tanker openly flying the Russian flag in international waters, a clearly provocative act.

While the administration still threatens sanctions against countries supplying oil, for now it appears that those nations with the political will to do so can send officially flagged tankers to Cuba and help to alleviate the brutal effects of Trump's ongoing regime change gambit.