BEIJING, December 22. /TASS/. Serbia will never join the West’s anti-Russian sanctions, despite all the pressure on it, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin said.

"The West’s pressure on Serbia has always been in place, they are asking us to impose sanction on Russia, stop Chinese investments, and to share everything the European Union and the United States are doing. But we are an independent state. We will never impose sanctions on Russia, he said in an interview with China’s CGTN television channel.

He noted that he is "not optimistic about prospects for the United States changing its policy toward Serbia" after the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.

He also recalled NATO’s bombardments of former Yugoslavia and condemned the then Western aggression against his country.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said earlier that the United States’ decision to impose sanctions on Serbia’s oil major NIS from January 1, 2025 would not make Belgrade change its mind and join the anti-Russian restrictions. He promised to take measures to resolve this problem and try to "preserve friendly relations with the Russians and not to spoil relations with those who are imposing these sanctions." NIS told TASS later that it continues operating as usual but was analyzing all possible scenarios and potential consequences of the US sanctions.

The Serbian leader also asked the government to set up a working group for talks with Russia and the United States in light of Washington’s plans to impose sanctions against NIS.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in March that Russia’s Gazprom neft was Serbia’s largest taxpayer and was doing much in the sphere of innovations. The company hold a more than 50% stake in NIS. Its payments to the Serbian budget in 2023 stood at 244.4 billion dinars ($2.28 billion as of March 12, 2024).

NIS is one of southeastern Europe’s largest vertically integrated energy systems. Its activities include prospecting for and production of oil and gas, oil refining, selling oil products, generating and selling electricity, implementing petrochemical projects. Its production facilities are located in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary. Its majority stakeholders are Gazprom neft (56.15%), and Serbia (29.87%), other shareholders possess 13.98% of shares.