Russian airlines will temporarily suspend flights to Cuba after evacuating tourists stranded on the Caribbean island due to the airport crisis caused by the United States energy embargo, the Russian civil aviation agency Rosaviatsia reported this Wednesday.
“Due to the difficulties in supplying aircraft fuel in Cuba, the Rossiya airlines (belongs to the Aeroflot group) and Nordwind were forced to modify their flight program to the airports of this country,” the press office of the state agency noted on Telegram.
According to Rosaviatsia, “in the coming days Rossiya will carry out several return flights, from Havana and Varadero to Moscow, to guarantee the return of Russian tourists.”
“Afterwards, the airline’s flight program will temporarily cease, until the situation changes,” he said.
He added that the Russian Ministry of Transportation and Rosaviatsia “specially follow the situation with flights between the countries and remain in permanent contact with the Cuban aeronautical authorities.”
For its part, the Russian tour operator Pegas Touristik announced the cessation of sales of new tour packages.
“The situation is stable and under control. All tourists who are in Cuba will return to Russia in an organized manner and within the scheduled time frames,” he stated.
As announced by the tourist authorities in previous days, there would be around 4,000 Russian tourists stranded on the largest island in the Antilles.
Russia is the second largest source of tourists to Cuba, after Canada, with 131,000 travelers in 2025.
The Kremlin reacted to this situation and asserted that Russia is seeking solutions together with the authorities of the Cuban regime, and will do everything possible to help in the airport crisis and encourage the return of Russian tourists after Havana’s announcement that it has run out of airplane fuel.
“Both through diplomatic channels and other means, we maintain intense contacts with Cuban friends,” declared the spokesman for the Russian presidency, Dmitri Peskov, noting that “the situation in Cuba is really critical.”
He added that “these suffocating measures by the United States really generate great difficulties for the country” and assured that Moscow and Havana are studying “possible ways to solve these problems, or at least alleviate them.”
The Cuban regime warned international airlines operating on the island last Sunday that as of this Monday the country would run out of aviation fuel due to the United States oil siege, as confirmed by the EFE news agency with two sources.
(With information from EFE)
