2026-02-03 18:55:00
*Russia stressed that Cuba’s energy future will depend on how quickly the island manages to find alternative oil suppliers.
Russia / The Financiero.-Russia ‘abandons’ Cuba? The Russian ambassador to Havana Viktor Koronelli, acknowledged that the island has been going through “a acute deficit of oil and its derivatives”, but remained silent about a possible oil shipment.
Viktor Koronelli explained that national production barely covers “approximately a third of the existing needs” in Cuba forcing the country to rely heavily on imports.
Although he highlighted the efforts of the Cuban government to increase the internal extraction of crude oil, particularly from Russian company Zarubezhneft admitted that these advances “are still not enough.”
However, he stressed that the Cuba’s energy future It will depend on how quickly the island can find alternative oil suppliers who can replace Venezuelan shipments.
“To a large extent it will depend on how quickly the Cuban leadership can find alternative oil suppliers and oil products that, to one extent or another, can replace supplies from Venezuela,” he wrote.
Experts say that more than offering a solution, Moscow transfers the responsibility to Havana suggesting that it diversify its sources of supply in an international market that is increasingly complex due to Trump threats.
Russia defends Cuba and rejects economic or military pressure from Trump against the island
The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, held a telephone conversation with his Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodríguez, in which confirmed Russia’s rejection to any pressure -economic or military- against Cuba and warned about the deterioration of the humanitarian situation on the island.
“The Russian side confirmed the principled position regarding the inadmissibility of economic or military pressures against Cuba including obstacles to fuel supplies to the island,” Russian diplomacy reported in a statement.
According to Russia, that “could lead to a serious deterioration of the economic and humanitarian situation in the country.”
The Russian official added that during the conversation both ministers “They addressed priority issues of bilateral cooperation and the international agenda”.
Lavrov expressed to Rodríguez “the firm willingness to continue helping Cuba with all the necessary political and material support.”
