BELGRADE, January 12. /TASS/. The United States’ sanctions against Serbia’s oil major NIS (Neftna Industrija Srbije), where Russia’s Gazprom Neft and Gazprom are majority stakeholders, are meant to blackmail Belgrade and set it at odds with Moscow, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin said.
"Sanctions against NIS are not meant to tilt the balance of power in Ukraine, but to put Serbia at odds with Russia, weaken Serbia’s economy and strip it of its privileged status both on the Russian market and on what concerns gas supplies. You are blackmailing us by demanding the expropriation of Russian property not because this will ruin the Russian statehood but because you want us to lose honor and confidence of all who would be interested in investing in Serbia," he said, commenting on the statement by James O’Brien, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs in the Biden administration, that Washington’s decision to put Serbia’s NIS on its sanctions list was geared to strip Moscow of energy revenues and this way weaken the Russian army in the conflict in Ukraine.
"O’Brien doesn’t demand that we should be friends to the United States. He demands that we become enemies to Russia. I regret that Mr. O’Brien did not find time to visit the memorial of Serbian children who were killed as a result of the NATO aggression because if he did, he might not be so proud of his role in Rambouillet (an interim agreement for peace and self-government in Kosovo - TASS)," he said.
Following talks with US Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard Verma, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that he hoped to have documents from Washington explaining what it wanted when imposing sanctions on NIS. With such documents on hands, Belgrade will be able to begin talks with Moscow, he added.
On January 10, the US Department of the Treasury put Russia’s Gazprom Neft and its CEO Alexander Dyukov, as well as more than 20 its subsidiary structures engaged in the production, refining and selling hydrocarbons, with NIS being among them, on its sanctions list. Commenting on this move, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that by blacklisting Gazprom Neft and Gazprom assets, Washington is seeking to push Serbia to withdraw Russian capital from the company.
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 (50%), Serbia (29.87%), and Gazprom (6.15%).