BELGRADE, December 4. /TASS/. Serbia’s energy sector is stable, despite the embargo on shipments of Russian oil to EU countries by sea, which is to come in force on Monday, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said on Sunday.

"It [the ban on imports of Russian oil] will tell on our economy, but Serbia is a stable country in terms pf energy," Tanjug quoted her as saying.

She said that thanks to the efforts of President Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia is a "safe country in terms of energy." The government, in her words, is doing its utmost to cope with the difficulties.

Serbia’s Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Negre said earlier that the country was importing more oil from Iraq and Kazakhstan than from Russia. She pledged that the government would continue to subsidize electricity prices, which will be among Europe’s lowest. Gas prices in Serbia will go up by 11%, whereas gas prices on the global market have hiked three-fold.

An embargo on shipments of Russian oil to European Union countries by sea comes into force on December 5. Apart from that, EU nations on Friday agreed a regulated price cap on Russian oil shipped by sea at a level of 60 US dollars per barrel. The Group of Seven nations and Australia announced a similar decision.

The United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom ban their companies from providing transportation, financial and insurance companies to tankers shipping Russian oil at a price above the agreed price cap.