Russia is dispatching a second oil shipment to Cuba to help alleviate a severe energy crisis, defying US pressure and a fuel blockade on the island.

MOSCOW: Russia will send a second ship carrying oil to Cuba as the island grapples with a US fuel blockade, Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev said.

Cuba has been suffering from an energy crisis since January, when US forces abducted Venezuela president and Cuban ally Nicolas Maduro.

His removal deprived Cuba of its main oil supplier, leading to weeks of blackouts, fuel rationing and food shortages.

Washington threatened to tariff any country that sold or provided oil to the island, although it allowed Russia to deliver a tanker earlier this week for “humanitarian reasons”.

“A vessel from the Russian Federation broke through the blockade. A second one is now being loaded. We will not leave the Cubans in trouble,” Tsivilev was quoted as saying by Russian state media.

A Russian tanker carrying 730,000 barrels of crude arrived in the Cuban port of Matanzas on Tuesday, providing the island with its first oil shipment since January.

Moscow historically maintains close ties with Havana and has criticised Washington for attempting to block fuel deliveries.

US President Donald Trump, whose administration has long regarded Cuba as a hostile regime, said he had “no problem” with Russia sending oil to the island.

“Cuba’s finished. They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership and whether or not they get a boat of oil it’s not going to matter,” he said.

 The Sun Malaysia