The United States plans to impose sanctions against Serbia’s main gas supplier, which is controlled by Russia, Serbia’s president said Saturday.
President Aleksandar Vucic told state broadcaster RTS that Serbia has been officially notified that the sanctions decision will take effect on January 1 but that he has not yet received any relevant documents from the US. There was no comment from US officials.
Serbia is almost entirely dependent on Russian gas, which it receives through pipelines in neighboring states. The gas is then distributed by the Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS), which is owned by Russia’s state oil monopoly Gazprom Neft.
Vucic said that after receiving the official documents, “first we will talk to the Americans, then we will talk to the Russians” to try to reverse the decision. “At the same time, we will try to preserve our friendly relations with the Russians and not spoil relations with those who impose sanctions,” he added.
Although formally seeking membership of the European Union, Serbia has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine due to significant Russian gas deliveries.
Vucic said that despite threats of sanctions, “I am not ready at this moment to discuss possible sanctions against Moscow.” Asked if the threat of US sanctions against Serbia could change with the arrival of Donald Trump’s administration in January, Vucic said, “We have to get the (official) documents first, and then talk to the current administration, because we are in a hurry.”
Serbia’s president faces the biggest threat to his increasingly autocratic rule for more than a decade. University students and others have been protesting since a concrete canopy collapsed at a railway station in the country’s north on November 1 last month, killing 15 people.
Many in Serbia believe rampant corruption and nepotism among state officials have slowed work on rebuilding the building, which was part of a wider railroad project with Chinese state companies.
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