BELGRADE, October 10. /TASS/. The global energy crisis stems from delays in signing long-term gas contracts with Russia, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday after talks with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
"The cause of the crisis is rooted in delays in the signing of long-term gas contracts with Russia, and who else such contracts can be signed with, but Russia. They did not do it due to political rather than economic considerations," he said.
According to Vucic, other causes of the energy crisis are carbon duties, the global economy’s emerging from the pandemic, green energy, and abrupt abandonment of traditional energy sources.
Vucic said on October 6 he would ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to help his country amid the energy crisis. According to the Serbian leader, his country’s decision to build the Balkan Stream (the extension of then Turk Stream) gas pipeline was a wise step as it ensured gas supplies to Serbia at affordable prices.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said at a meeting of the intergovernmental commission in Serbia on October 7 that he hoped a long-term gas contract with Serbia would be signed before the end of 2021.