BELGRADE, January 24. /TASS/. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has vowed that Belgrade will never join the anti-Russian sanctions as long as he is president.
"You know, as long as I am Serbian president, I will not impose sanctions either against Russia or other our friends. We are on a European path but I will soon speak with the Russian president to see how to cope with these problems stemming from the sanctions [against Serbia’s oil major NIS] and other matters. We will find a solution, the best solution for Serbia and we will always maintain brotherly and friendly relations with China, Russia and all of our friends. This is what many are seeking to ruin, but we will not let this happen. This is Servia’s strength," he said.
The Serbian president said earlier that he was proud of the firmness of Belgrade’s position on the Ukrainian conflict and the refusal from joining the West’s sanctions against Russia.
After the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, Vucic said in an address to the nation that although Serbia supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity, it will not impose sanctions against Russia. He also announced that Belgrade is suspending army and police drills with all foreign partners. He noted that Serbia considers Russia and Ukraine to be brotherly nations, regrets what is going on in Eastern Europe and is ready to offer humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
NIS and sanctions
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. He also said that he would request a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on January 25-27 to discuss this situation and pledged that the sanctions against the Serbian company due to Russia holding a stake in it will not make Belgrade change its position on the anti-Russian restrictions.
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%).