Arrival of Russian tanker in Cuba hints at secret US-Havana negotiations

A sanctioned Russian oil tanker, the Anatoly Kolodkin, docked at Cuba’s Matanzas terminal this week, delivering 700,000 barrels of crude. This marked a surprising breach of the US oil blockade imposed under the Trump administration, with the president recently stating he had no objection to certain oil shipments to the island. Within days of the tanker’s arrival, Cuba announced the release of over 2,000 prisoners, described as a humanitarian gesture but widely seen as a possible response to ongo