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Moscow has said it is planning to evacuate Russian tourists from Cuba within days as a fuel crisis triggered by US efforts to choke off the island’s oil supplies deepens.
Russia’s aviation authorities said on Wednesday that two of its airlines serving the Caribbean island would operate outbound-only flights to bring tourists home before suspending services.
Cuban aviation authorities had warned that the country was running out of jet fuel, threatening to derail its crucial tourism industry.
Canada’s flag carrier said it would temporarily halt flights because of the fuel crisis, while several other airlines said they were rerouting planes to refuel at neighbouring Caribbean airports.
Russia’s tourism board said about 4,000 Russian tourists were currently in Cuba. Many of them are state employees; Cuba, a longtime Kremlin ally, remains one of the few destinations Russian officials are allowed to visit under strict security service travel rules.
The tourism board said all future tourist packages would be suspended. In online chat groups, Russians remaining on the island complained about fuel rationing and cuts to public transport as shortages deepened. Some said they had been moved to lower-grade hotels where the electricity supply was more stable.
Cuba’s rapidly worsening situation follows a move by the Trump administration last month that in effect introduced an oil blockade on the island.
The last known delivery came via a tanker from Mexico in early January, but Mexico halted exports amid US pressure. At the same time, crude flows from Venezuela have dried up following a US operation in January that resulted in the capture of Nicolás Maduro, cutting off support from Cuba’s most trusted energy supplier.
The Kremlin said on Monday that the fuel situation was critical and that US attempts to “suffocate” Cuba were causing many difficulties.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, separately said Moscow stood in solidarity with Cuba and was “ready to provide our friends with all necessary support together with other like-minded partners”.
It remains unclear what form that support could take, as the Kremlin is engaged in sensitive negotiations with the Trump administration, while its political and military focus remains fixed on the war in Ukraine – leaving little appetite for steps that could provoke Washington.
