Trump grants permission to Russian tanker to break Cuba blockade: "It will have no impact, they are finished"

MoscowAfter three weeks of crossing from the Baltic Sea, traversing the Atlantic Ocean, and reaching the Caribbean, the Russian tanker Anatoli Kolodkin will finally be able to dock in a Cuban port and will break "If a country wants to send oil to Cuba right now, I have no problem with it, whether it's Russia or other countries. It will have no impact, Cuba is finished.", said the President of the United States, a few hours before the vessel arrives at its destination. The 730,000 barrels of crude oil carried by the ship – about 100,000 tons – are estimated to alleviate Havana's fuel crisis for a month. At the same time, they will offer Vladimir Putin a geopolitical victory in the dispute with Washington over spheres of influence.The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has expressed "satisfaction" with the news, stating that it is the Russian government's "duty" to provide assistance to their Cuban friends and warned that they will continue to do so. Peskov also admitted that the operation was agreed with the White House. Unlike the tankers confiscated by the US fleet during the blockade of Venezuela, which were seized on the grounds that they were sailing without a flag and were associated with anti-terrorism sanctions, the Russian tanker is co-owned by the Russian state. According to experts, the United States has very few legal mechanisms to intercept the vessel outside its territorial waters, and therefore will do nothing to prevent it from docking at the port of Matanzas. Furthermore,

could translate into even more volatility in global energy markets.Since the rise in hydrocarbon prices due to the attack on Iran, Trump has partially lifted sanctions against Russian oil and has given Putin some breathing room. Breathing room that is not only economic, in the form of increased revenue for the Russian state budget, but also geopolitical. For Moscow, breaking the blockade of Cuba is a punch to the table that allows it to question the triumphal march that the American president wants to turn his second term into. without opposition and in the face of the Kremlin's impotence, seemed to open the way to the inevitable loss of Russian influence in the region, now Putin can help to put a temporary stop to it.

Russian war bloggers are also noting Iran's resistance as a factor that has forced Trump to postpone the decision to bring down the Cuban regime. Thus, in turn, the military assistance that, according to Western reports, the Kremlin is providing to Tehran would be helping to contain the American onslaughts against Moscow's two partners. Furthermore, propagandists celebrate the uniqueness of Russia, the only country capable of rescuing Cuba, while other Latin American governments and European left-wing governments do not dare to challenge the tariffs imposed by Trump.

The island is in a critical situation. The lack of gasoline and diesel fuel has caused major blackouts in the country, the almost total paralysis of the economy, and serious problems for people's health. According to the Cuban government, more than 100,000 citizens, including 11,000 children, are waiting in hospitals to be operated on due to the energy blockade, and there is also a shortage of medicines and food. China has delivered a total of 30,000 tons of rice to Cuba as humanitarian aid since January, and Russia assures that its oil also falls into the category of humanitarian aid.A neighbor close to the United States

For Putin, the association with Cuba is even more important than with Venezuela. The Kremlin has become over the last 25 years the lifeline of the island amidst the blockade by the United States. It has always supplied Cubans with food, fuel, and medical equipment, and they have developed joint financial support schemes to circumvent sanctions. In return, Russian companies have been able to invest in the Cuban economy and extract raw materials from it, both countries have deepened cooperation in intelligence and, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, thousands of Cuban soldiers have fought in the ranks of the Kremlin. However, despite Russia's interests, the arrival of its tanker in Cuba is only a momentary success. Trump is determined to deprive Moscow and Beijing of a strategic nerve center located an hour's flight from Florida, and Marco Rubio wants to turn the fall of the Cuban regime, almost 70 years later, into the legacy for a future presidential candidacy. The unknown is whether Putin, with his hands tied by the war in Ukraine, will show the same determination as his American rivals to try to influence the island's destiny.