Airlines have completed flights to repatriate Russian tourists from Cuba" - Havana Times reported on February 25, citing a statement from the Russian Ministry of Transport.
The last flight landed at 5:27 pm local time on February 22 at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow, where the number of flights was restricted due to Ukrainian drone attacks.
That is the flight operated by Rossiya (belonging to Aeroflot group), departing from Varadero - one of the favorite tourist destinations of Russians - and marking "the last flight within the framework of the operation starting from February 13th".
According to the Russian Ministry of Transport, a total of nearly 4,300 tourists have been repatriated from Varadero, Havana, Holguin and Cayo Coco on 9 flights.
The possibility of resuming flights will be considered when the aircraft fuel supply situation returns to normal" - the announcement added.
On February 11, the Russian government recommended that travel companies stop selling tickets to Cuba, then airlines announced the temporary suspension of flights.
The decision was made after Cuba warned that it was running out of aircraft fuel, directly threatening the tourism industry - one of the key economic sectors of the island nation.
The energy crisis in Cuba stems from the move of US President Donald Trump's administration last month, which essentially created an oil embargo against this island nation.
With 131,882 tourists to Cuba in 2025, Russia is the second largest source of tourists to this island nation, after Canada (754,010) - a country that completed the repatriation of nearly 28,000 tourists last week.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez mentioned the energy crisis in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
You know our position on this issue. We do not accept anything similar," President Putin said at the beginning of the meeting.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the meeting discussed specific support that Moscow could provide to Havana in the current conditions.
Previously, Foreign Minister Lavrov and Foreign Minister Rodríguez called for dialogue with the US, urging this country to abandon its plan to blockade the Cuban navy.
Recently, Russia announced that it is in contact with the Cuban government and plans to supply oil to this island nation - for the first time since the 100,000-ton crude oil shipment in February 2025.
According to maritime tracking data and analysis by maritime intelligence agency Kpler, the Hong Kong (China)-flagged oil tanker Sea Horse is expected to dock in Cuba in early March, carrying nearly 200,000 barrels of fuel, likely diesel. Goods are believed to originate from Russia, although both Moscow and Havana have not officially confirmed it.
