MOSCOW, October 12. /TASS/. The EU’s cut-off of Russian oil supplies was an attempt to take revenge for Belgrade's refusal to impose sanctions against Moscow, Russian envoy to Belgrade Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko said during a Rossiya-24 TV broadcast on Wednesday.
"This is a manifestation of Zagreb's negative attitude toward Belgrade and a desire to take revenge, for what - the reason is unclear. If we talk about the EU as a whole, it is already on a revenge path for Belgrade's refusal to join anti-Russian measures, restrictions and sanctions," he pointed out.
The envoy noted that the decision of Croatia and the EU to cut off oil supplies to Serbia was "largely politicized". At the same time, the diplomat stressed that restrictions on Russian oil supplies would not cause significant damage to Serbia. "In principle, the forecast is quite positive. It is that the oil market and the market of oil products in Serbia will not suffer and the situation will not have a significant impact on prices," he said.
In addition, Botsan-Kharchenko pointed out that at the moment "the issue with the construction of an interconnector for the supply of oil through a Hungarian pipeline is being worked out". "Now the market is very unstable, but Serbia is a positive example against the background of everything that is happening in Europe. Most likely, no disruptions are expected, neither in prices nor in the supply of energy to the industry," the diplomat added.
On October 6, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stated that he considered the actions of Croatia, which proposed to not allow Serbia to buy oil from Russia, as a continuation of the Zagreb’s octogenarian course. When asked by Croatian journalists to explain his idea, Vucic said that he was referring to the pro-fascist Independent State of Croatia. The president noted that the EU decision to ban the import of Russian oil was made long ago, but the draft document implied exceptions from this ban for the Western Balkan countries, saying that "then, our neighbors boasted that, thanks to them, there was no exclusion [of Serbia] from the ban on Russian oil imports, although some EU countries were excluded, such as Bulgaria and Hungary."
Earlier, the EU introduced an eighth package of sanctions against Russia due to the annexation of four entities to Russia. The new package includes a legislative basis for establishing a price cap on Russian oil, as well as restrictions on the maritime transportation of crude oil and oil products to third countries.