Russia Confirms It's Sending Oil To Cuba In Defiance Of U.S. Blockade: 'We Are Providing Humanitarian Support'

Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev confirmed that the country is sending fuel to Cuba, effectively defying the U.S. blockade on the island's private sector.

"We are sending humanitarian aid. We are providing humanitarian support," Tsivilev said, according to French outlet France 24.

Jorge Piñon an energy expert at the University of Texas at Austin, told the Miami Herald that the vessel in question, the Anatoly Kolodkin, continues heading toward Cuba at a "speed of roughly 12 knots."

"I imagine it should arrive sometime within the next six days. However, for the moment, it hasn't changed either its direction or its speed," he added on Wednesday.

The ship, which has been sanctioned by the U.S., the UK and the EU is carrying 730,000 barrels of Russian oil and is heading to Matanzas.

The vessel joined the Sea Horse, which this week resumed navigation to the island after diverting course in February. The vessel is believed to be carrying some 200,000 barrels of gas oil. The Russian official did not clarify whether the ship is also heading to Cuba.

Should the vessels effectively attempt to unload the oil in the island, it could spark a confrontation with the U.S., which is seeking to ensure that Cuba's public sector is still unable to access the source of energy.

In contrast, U.S. suppliers have shipped tens of thousands of barrels of oil to Cuba's private sector. Reuters detailed that some 30,000 barrels of fuel have made their way to the island.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that authorizing the mentioned exports is part of a policy "entirely designed to put the private sector and individual private Cubans – not affiliated with the government, not affiliated with the military, in a privileged position." While the figure is small, volumes are growing by the week, the outlet added.

Cuba, in the meantime, teeters on the brink. Local doctors claim that medical patients are beginning to die as conditions in the island deteriorate due to the continued lack of fuel, according to another report.

Six doctors who spoke to The New York Times said conditions at hospitals and clinics across the country are leading to otherwise preventable deaths.

"I can't tell you how many deaths, but I'm sure there are more than in the same period last year," Alioth Fernandez, chief anesthesiologist at Havana's largest pediatric hospital, told the outlet "I see it in shift handovers, in colleagues' comments and in children I've operated on."