U.S. Blocks Russian Oil for Cuba as Tanker Diverts

Washington has slammed shut the last legal route for Russian oil to reach Cuba. The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday added Cuba to a restricted list under its March 12 sanctions waiver, explicitly banning the sale, delivery, or offloading of Russian crude and petroleum products to the island. The Rio Times, the Latin American financial news outlet, reports that this Cuba Russian oil blockade escalation came hours after maritime trackers confirmed two Russian-linked tankers were sailing toward Cuba.

The original waiver had authorized limited sales of Russian oil loaded between March 12 and April 11, a concession linked to the Strait of Hormuz closure and the war in Iran. Thursday’s amendment added Cuba alongside Iran, North Korea, and Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories to the exclusion list.

Sea Horse Diverts Overnight

The first casualty was immediate. The Hong Kong-flagged tanker Sea Horse, carrying approximately 200,000 barrels of Russian diesel, changed its declared destination overnight from Cuba to Trinidad and Tobago. New York Times visual analyst Christiaan Triebert tracked the course change at 3:11 a.m. Friday.

The Sea Horse had spent weeks executing deceptive maneuvers — loading cargo through a covert ship-to-ship transfer off Cyprus with its transponder switched off, then repeatedly changing its declared destination from Havana to “Caribbean Sea” to “Gibraltar for orders.” Maritime intelligence firm Windward flagged the vessel for sanctions-evasion behavior including location spoofing and lack of Western insurance.

Cuba Russian Oil Blockade: The Kolodkin Question

The larger question now is the Anatoly Kolodkin, a Russian-government-owned tanker carrying roughly 730,000 barrels of Urals crude — enough to keep Cuba running for about 30 days after refining. The vessel left the Baltic port of Primorsk on March 9, was initially escorted by a Russian Navy warship through the English Channel, and is expected to reach Matanzas by early April.

Both the Kolodkin and its owner, the state shipping company Sovcomflot, have been under U.S. sanctions since 2024. Energy analyst Jorge Piñón of the University of Texas noted that even if the crude reaches Cuba, it would need to be refined first — a process taking 20 to 30 days — and would provide only temporary relief.

Precedent: The Bella-1 Incident

Washington has intercepted Russian tankers before. In January, the Coast Guard pursued the Bella-1 for two weeks as it sailed toward Venezuela with a Russian submarine escort. The vessel and crew were eventually seized, with the sailors released after a Trump-Putin agreement. The broader U.S. strategy has been to choke Cuba’s energy supply since capturing Maduro severed the Venezuelan oil lifeline in January.

U.S. Southern Command chief Francis Donovan told Congress Thursday that the military is not preparing to invade Cuba, but confirmed a “continuous presence in the Florida Strait and the Caribbean.” Trump himself said Monday he could “take Cuba” and do “anything I want” with the weakened island.

Ten Million People in the Dark

Cuba has received no significant fuel imports since mid-December. The national grid collapsed on March 16, blackouts in Havana exceed 15 hours daily, and protesters stormed a Communist Party headquarters in Morón before being dispersed by security forces.

If the Kolodkin is turned away or seized, Cuba faces what analysts call its expiration date — the point where reserves hit zero and the grid cannot restart. The tanker carrying 730,000 barrels is not just fuel for a darkened island. It is the next flashpoint between Moscow and Washington in a Caribbean confrontation that grows more dangerous with each passing week.