BELGRADE, August 26. /TASS/. The EU-US agreement on importing US energy worth $250 billion a year will be impossible to implement without cooperation with Russia, Dusan Bajatovic, general director of Srbijagas, said on Radio and Television of Serbia.

"In my opinion, the greatest hope is linked to the agreement reached by US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. They agreed that Europe should provide energy carriers worth $250 billion annually for three years in advance. This is impossible without cooperation with Russia," Bajatovic said.

As the head of Srbijagas stressed, Brussels and Washington "will have to cooperate with Russia" if they really want to fulfill their agreed obligations in the energy sector. He also noted that a peaceful settlement in Ukraine is conditioned not only by the cessation of hostilities, but also by the lifting of sanctions.

On July 27, von der Leyen and Trump agreed that Washington would impose duties of 15% on approximately 75% of European goods imported into the United States from August 1 instead of the 30% duties on all imports from Europe that the White House had threatened to impose. For its part, the EU will not levy tariffs on American goods. The European Commission promised to completely ban any type of import of Russian energy resources to the EU and buy American oil, gas, nuclear equipment and fuel for $750 billion, as well as invest $600 billion in the US economy.

As the head of the European Commission explained when announcing the deal with Trump, the EU must fulfill this obligation within three years. In this case, EU countries will have to purchase energy resources from the United States for $250 billion per year, which is two-thirds of all EU energy imports in 2024. The following day, European Commission officials said the EC could not force European companies to buy energy exclusively from the US, but would "persuade them to do so.".