A Russian tanker carrying a humanitarian shipment of 100,000 tons of crude oil arrived in Cuba, according to an announcement published on the official website of Russia's Ministry of Transport.

"The Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin, carrying a humanitarian cargo of 100,000 tons of crude oil, has arrived in Cuba. The vessel is at the port of Matanzas awaiting unloading," the ministry's statement read.

The day prior, a U.S. official told The New York Times that the U.S. Coast Guard would not block the Russian tanker's passage despite the blockade imposed on Cuba by the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump himself downplayed the matter when reporters asked him about it aboard Air Force One on Sunday evening.

"We don't care if someone gets a shipment, because they need it; they have to survive," the president was quoted as saying by The New York Times.

On January 29, Trump signed an executive order allowing the United States to impose tariffs on imports from countries that supply oil to Cuba.

Washington's actions have caused a severe fuel shortage across the island. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel denounced what he called Washington's "energy blockade," calling it "condemnable that a power, with the dimension that the United States has as a power, adopts such an aggressive and criminal policy toward a small nation."

The Cuban president acknowledged that the country faces serious challenges in securing crude oil to guarantee electricity generation and basic activities, as no fuel has entered the country since December.

RUSSIA CONSIDERS IT A DUTY TO HELP CUBA

Russia welcomes the arrival of 100,000 tons of its oil to Cuba and considers it a duty to assist the Caribbean nation amid the desperate situation it currently faces, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov stated Monday.

"We are pleased that this batch of petroleum products has reached the island," Peskov told reporters, adding that "Russia believes it has a duty not to stand aside and to provide the necessary assistance to our Cuban friends."

"We cannot remain indifferent to the desperate situation Cubans are living through today, so we will continue working on this," he affirmed.

When asked to comment on reports that the United States had allowed the Russian fuel to reach Cuba despite the energy blockade imposed on the island, Peskov confirmed that "this matter had indeed been raised in advance through contacts with American counterparts." (CubaSí)