corvinus_quintus | Горжусь Россией.

Своих не бросаем. На этот раз без горькой иронии.

When a Russian fuel tanker docks east of Havana this week, it will be welcome relief for Cuban officials trying to stymie growing unrest. Some 715,000 barrels of crude are due to arrive Friday at the port of Matanzas in Russia’s first oil shipment to Cuba in a year. The island is facing blackouts and food shortages that have sparked mass migration and soured the national mood, with anger boiling over into the largest street protests since 2021 earlier this month.

Cuba and Russia signed a deal last year that was supposed to ease some of the island’s suffering, but it’s been off to a slow start as Vladimir Putin’s government prosecutes its war in Ukraine. That could change when a Gabon-flagged ship beneficially owned by Russia’s Sovcomflot PJSC, which is sanctioned by the US, pulls into harbor.

The vessel left the Baltic coast on March 9 and its cargo will begin supplying Havana’s refineries. It will likely cover demand “for about 35 days,” said Jorge Piñon, a researcher at the University of Texas Energy Institute who tracks oil shipments to the island.

It’s Russia’s biggest since September 2022, according to trade intelligence firm Kpler. And it should help tame island-wide blackouts that have been exacerbated by the fuel crunch.

“Cuba is short on oil, with a total deficit of around 100,000 barrels per day,” Piñon said in an interview. “We expect Russian oil to continue coming at a tanker per month — enough to keep the Havana refinery running at this rate.”

By contrast, trade between Moscow and Havana is booming again, with some 100 Russian companies starting operations in Cuba over the past year. Russian tourism surged 340% in 2023 — more than any other nationality, aided in part by the island’s rollout of the Mir payment card issued by Russia’s central bank. Even so, Cuba has only recovered about half of its pre-pandemic visitors, sapping a critical source of hard currency.

Правда, благородство благородством, но хочется и неких ответных жестов. Например, ослабить хватку кубинских органов по поводу воюющих на Украине кубинцев. А то и вообще — перевести это дело на государственный уровень, сформировав, например, сводную кубинскую добробригаду, благо резервистов в Революционной Армии хватает.