Russia plans to continue supplying its oil to Cuba, the Russian ambassador to Havana, Viktor Koronelli, stated in an interview with Sputnik.
“Russian oil has been supplied to Cuba on numerous occasions in recent years. We expect this practice to continue,” the diplomat affirmed.
On Thursday, January 29, US President Donald Trump declared a national emergency due to an alleged national security threat emanating from Cuba and signed an executive order allowing Washington to impose additional tariffs on imports from countries that supply oil to the island.
Subsequently, the Republican president indicated that Cuba is “very close to collapse” because it lost access to Venezuelan money and oil after the US attack on January 3 in Caracas, which culminated in the kidnapping of the Caribbean nation’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores.
In response, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said the new US tariffs on Cuban oil are “fascist, criminal, and genocidal.”
On Sunday, Trump asserted that the United States is negotiating with Cuban leaders to reach an agreement, though he provided no further details.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez affirmed on Monday that the island’s government is willing to “reactivate” and “expand” bilateral cooperation with the United States to confront transnational threats such as terrorism.
