Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić stated that he will have to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin about potential US sanctions on Serbia‘s oil industry (NIS) and the gas arrangement.
“Whether by phone or in some other way, we’ll see, but I definitely have to talk,” Vučić said at a meeting of the Serbian Government in the Palace of Serbia, as reported by FoNet.
Vučić asked the Government to form a team that will negotiate the sanctions that he claims America wants to impose on NIS and for the Government to consider who can negotiate with the Americans and who with the Russians.
“We cannot be left without oil. We must care for our citizens,” the President of Serbia emphasized, as reported by RTS.
NIS is majority-owned by Russian Gazprom.
Vučić announced in a television interview on Friday that the US plans to impose sanctions on NIS due to majority Russian ownership, which is allegedly set to take effect next year.
No official confirmation has arrived from Washington that sanctions will be imposed.
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In response to a question for Voice of America, the State Department stated that US policy is not to publicly discuss sanctions.
“We remain committed to disrupting Russia’s revenue, procurement, and financial networks that support the war in Ukraine and will continue to take appropriate measures to hold accountable those who enable or profit from Russia’s illegal war,” the State Department’s response stated.
Previously, US Ambassador to Belgrade Christopher Hill said that “the risk of cooperation with Russian companies, especially in the energy sector, has been known for a long time.”
Hill also said that “a change of ownership would bring more peace and prosperity to Serbia and the region.” Voice of America tried to get information from the US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy about whether the US is discussing with Serbia the purchase of a certain part of NIS, but the answer was that “they have no comment.”
The US Embassy in Belgrade posted on Instagram a montage video about how the majority stake in NIS was sold to Russian Gazpromneft below market value and how Serbia is losing the profit that Russia collects – which in turn finances the war in Ukraine.
The Serbian oil industry was sold in 2008 to the Russian state-owned company Gazpromneft for 400 million euros, and the agreement also included the construction of the now-abandoned South Stream gas pipeline project and a gas storage facility in the Vojvodina town of Banatski Dvor.
That company is a subsidiary of the Russian state-owned company Gazprom, the world’s largest gas producer, which is not subject to sanctions by Western countries.
This is interpreted as the reason why Gazprom and Gazpromneft, which have a majority stake in NIS, changed their ownership stake in NIS in May 2022, adapting their operations after the introduction of additional sanctions against Russia.
The former majority owner, Gazpromneft, which at that time owned 56.15% of the shares, sold 6.15% of its ownership stake to Gazprom.
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Source: Glas Amerike, Photo: Printscreen Instagram, Pixabay, Twitter