“Washington is squeezing Putin’s friends. Serbia is ready to buy Gazprom’s stake in its largest oil company January 6, 16:33 Share: Aleksandar Vucic, President of Serbia (Photo: REUTERS/Johanna Geron) The United States is likely to impose sanctions against the company Naftova Industria Serbia (NIS) between 10 January 13. This was stated by the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, Radio Svoboda reports. Vuchich did not specify where he got this information from. In December 2024, he”, — write on: ua.news
Aleksandar Vucic, President of Serbia (Photo: REUTERS/Johanna Geron)
The United States is likely to introduce sanctions against the company Naftova Industria Serbia (NIS) in the period from January 10 to 13.
This was stated by the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, Radio Svoboda reports. Vuchich did not specify where he got this information from.
In December 2024, he already spoke about US plans to impose sanctions against the NIS. At that time, the President of Serbia called the date January 1, but no sanctions were announced before that date. The State Department neither confirmed nor denied Vuchich’s words that sanctions would be imposed.
According to Vučić, the sanctions will not take effect immediately, but probably with a delay until March 15.
During this time, Belgrade will have to resolve the issue with the company’s ownership structure to avoid the sanctions coming into effect. Currently, the majority of NIS shares – 56.15% – belong to the Russian companies Gazprom Neft and Gazprom. As the Serbian president noted, it is not yet known what the US conditions will be: whether it will be enough for Russian companies not to have a controlling stake in the company, or whether their share in NIS will have to be bought out entirely.
Vučić also stated that Serbia is ready as a last resort for the option of buying NIS shares owned by them from Russian companies — their value is estimated at approximately 700 million euros. At the same time, he emphasized that in the case of a purchase, the US administration may have questions about what the money received by the Russian side will be used for.
Serbia, as before, is largely dependent on Russian energy carriers, and this dependence was one of the key arguments of official Belgrade not to introduce sanctions against Moscow. Gazprom is the country’s only gas supplier and the main owner of both gas pipelines that deliver Russian gas to homes and businesses in Serbia.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Belgrade has refused to join Western sanctions and continues to maintain ties with officials in the Kremlin, although it has officially condemned the invasion.