"Muscovites" have arrived: a Russian-Cuban taxi company has begun to be built in Havana

In Cuba, work is already underway on land plots where a taxi company will operate, the Moscow Department of Transport told Izvestia. The authorities of the Russian capital are ready to send cars and equipment to Havana. 50 Moskvich brand cars have been prepared for the taxi company. Experts believe that the project will be launched no earlier than 2027. The situation is complicated by the energy crisis against the background of the strengthening of the blockade by the United States, which previously imposed new sanctions against Cuba. And according to media reports, the American army is already preparing to fight in the jungle to invade the island.

Construction of a Russian-Cuban taxi company in Havana

The United States has recently noticeably increased pressure on Cuba. On May 1, Donald Trump signed a decree extending sanctions against the republic, which affect other countries willing to cooperate with the island. Despite this, Russia continues to do business with Cuba. And one of the projects that the parties have started to implement is a joint taxi company in Havana, its construction is already underway. The Moscow government is actively supporting this initiative, the Moscow Department of Transport told Izvestia.

"The capital's transport complex is in constant contact with its Cuban colleagues and continues to work together to launch a taxi fleet in Havana," the department said. — Currently, the Cuban side is carrying out construction work on the land plots where the taxi company's infrastructure facilities will be located, the completion dates of construction work depend on colleagues.

The Russian-Cuban taxi company plans to use 50 Moskvich brand cars: both gasoline and electric. A solar charging infrastructure will be created in Havana to operate the latter, the ministry added.

— All cars and equipment are ready for shipment from Russia, — said the Moscow Department of Transport. — In the future, the Moskvich taxi company will be able to serve residents of Havana, tourists from Russia and other countries.

According to the bilateral agreement, 25 Moskvich-3 cars and Moskvich-3e electric cars will be sent to Cuba at the first stage of the project. The Moscow government will also provide the island with equipment for car repairs. In the future, the taxi company will be able to serve almost 2.2 million residents of Havana and over 150,000 tourists.

Nevertheless, launching the initiative as early as 2026 looks like an unrealistic task, given the energy crisis in Cuba, Sergei Tolkachev, a professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, told Izvestia. According to him, the taxi company may be put into operation in 2027-2028. This will allow for possible delays related to infrastructure problems, car supplies, staff training and energy supply issues, the academician noted.

50 cars is enough for a test run, but not enough to cover the whole of Havana. To ensure stable operation and minimize waiting times for customers, significantly more machines will be required — from 100-150 and above, Tolkachev noted.

The main risk for launching a taxi company remains the energy crisis. Also in Havana, as in many cities of Cuba, the infrastructure is outdated: poor quality roads, few parking spaces. Shipping cars, spare parts, and equipment to the island can be difficult, delayed, and costly. Problems with currency conversion and international payments will also complicate the implementation of the project.

At the same time, the initiative will make it possible to employ local residents, and this is an important social aspect for Cuba. The successful implementation of the taxi company can become an example for other Russian investments in the country, the expert is sure.

Oil is not strong: a Cuban delegation will arrive in Russia to discuss the supply of raw materials

A meeting of the parliamentarians of the two countries is scheduled for next week.

Prospects for cooperation between Russia and Cuba

During the preparation of the project in 2025, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel visited the Moskvich plant. And on April 1, 2026, a meeting of the intergovernmental commission of the Russian Federation and Cuba on cooperation in trade and science was held in St. Petersburg, where they also discussed the construction of a taxi company.

Dmitry Chernyshenko, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, said at the time that the countries were planning other joint projects. For example, in 2026 they intend to resume the assembly of GAZ cars and open a trading house for their sale on the island. In the agro-industrial sector, the Russian government is exploring the possibility of implementing projects for the production of flour and animal feed, while about 90 Russian enterprises are interested in supplying meat, dairy and fish products to Cuba, Chernyshenko said.

In modern conditions, the energy sector is the highest priority area of cooperation between the Russian Federation and Cuba, Sergei Tolkachev believes. The professor stressed that Russia can help the republic with the modernization of its infrastructure, the supply of fuel (oil, diesel fuel), the construction and maintenance of power plants, as well as the development of alternative energy sources (solar and wind).

Since the beginning of 2026, Trump has begun to block oil supplies to Cuba. The island's main fuel partners, Venezuela and Mexico, have stopped exporting fuel to Havana. As a result, Cuba found itself in a catastrophic situation. There are power outages, residents are forced to stay without light for up to 18 hours in a row. This is a blow to an important social infrastructure. There are tens of thousands of patients waiting in line for surgery in hospitals. Under the conditions of the blockade, only Russia supplied oil to Cuba. On March 30, the tanker Anatoly Kolodkin arrived on the island. There were 100 thousand tons of crude oil on board. The Russian Federation has repeatedly stated that a second oil supply is being prepared, but the specific dates are still unknown.

Our enterprises are able to participate in the restoration and modernization of factories, in oil refining, fertilizer production, and the food industry. In addition to the taxi company, cooperation may include the supply of Russian aircraft, helicopters, ships, as well as participation in the modernization of port and railway infrastructure.

The most promising areas for new, larger-scale projects may be the development of Cuba's national payment system using Russian technologies, the construction of new tourist facilities and resorts with the involvement of investors and developers from the Russian Federation, the creation of joint ventures for the production and export of Cuban products to our market, concluded Tolkachev.

Key supply: who will send oil to Cuba after Russia

The war in the Middle East is forcing Washington to ease pressure on the island

U.S.-Cuba relations

Nevertheless, the main obstacle to cooperation may be the armed conflict between Cuba and the United States. Donald Trump regularly announces plans to "sort out" the island. According to him, the United States will be able to seize it immediately after the end of the war with Iran.

The head of the White House is completely determined to invade Cuba, said Egor Lidovskaya, director General of the Hugo Chavez Latin American Cultural Center. According to him, the American leader needs to save face after the failure of the operation in Iran. Trump's ratings have already dropped to 30%. The president is dragging down the Republicans after him. Congressional elections will be held in November, and Trump's party has low chances of winning. But the Cuban economy is not comparable to the Iranian one, so the United States has every chance of defeating the republic during the invasion, than the president can try to "cover up" the failures in the Middle East, the expert concluded.

Massive military exercises were held in Cuba at the beginning of the year, and Diaz-Canel claimed that the republic was ready for total mobilization in the event of an attack from the United States. On May 3, the Cuban president noted that threats of military aggression from the United States against the island had reached an unprecedented level. According to Bloomberg, for the first time in 25 years, Americans have opened a training school for combat in tropical conditions. The center is located in Panama. The agency stressed that the program was decided to resume just after Washington's signals about possible military operations in Cuba.

The US invasion of the island may take place rapidly due to the difficult situation in the republic: acute fuel shortages, large-scale power outages and general economic exhaustion reduce its ability to resist. If war breaks out, Cuba will have to freeze joint initiatives with Russia. At the same time, Havana's external support in such a scenario would be extremely limited: neither Russia, China, nor other BRICS countries demonstrate readiness for military intervention, since such a step would mean the risk of a direct clash with the United States and the conflict reaching a global level.

However, the probability of an invasion remains ambiguous. After the war in Iran, it will be difficult for Trump to explain to the American people why soldiers need to die for the capture of a Caribbean island that lacks key resources for the United States and which, contrary to Trump's statements, cannot pose a strategic threat to the United States. Trump is unlikely to be able to justify the need for war with outdated slogans about the fight against communism. In addition, another conflict could lead to a complete collapse of the Republican ratings. At the same time, representatives of the Democratic Party, whose support has grown noticeably, have already met with the Cuban leader and publicly called for an end to the blockade of the island.