Russian President Vladimir Putin today described as “unacceptable” the oil embargo imposed by the United States on Cuba, during his meeting with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez at the Kremlin.

A senior Russian diplomat said last week that Moscow intends to send oil to Havana in the near future “as humanitarian aid” to the island nation, which is under severe strain due to U.S. pressure.

“This is a special period, with new sanctions. You know how we feel about all this,” Putin told Rodríguez, according to the Russian news agency TASS. “We consider it unacceptable,” the Kremlin leader stressed.

Earlier, Russia’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov informed his Cuban counterpart that Moscow had urged Washington not to impose a full naval blockade on Cuba, emphasizing that dialogue is needed.

Oil supplies to the largest Caribbean island, with a population of nearly 11 million, have declined sharply over the past two months. Under pressure from the United States, Venezuela halted oil deliveries to Cuba in mid-December, depriving the island state of crude shipments from its long-standing main supplier. As if that were not enough, the government of Mexico also announced that it is suspending oil deliveries to Cuba, following U.S. threats to impose customs tariffs on countries that send supplies to the island.

The United Nations have repeatedly called for the lifting of the U.S. embargo on Cuba, while Mexico and Venezuela have stressed that cutting off the island nation’s oil supply would have serious humanitarian consequences.