Vučić: The United States to impose sanctions on Serbia's oil industry

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, has revealed that the United States will soon impose sanctions on Serbia's Oil Industry (NIS), CE Report quotes Kosova Press.

"In a few days, the United States of America will impose full sanctions against Serbia's Oil Industry (NIS) due to its Russian ownership," Vučić stated on Serbian television.

He explained, "This creates problems with our Russian friends in everything, from politics to other areas."
"A terrible situation. In any case, we don’t know how much time they will give us. It can't happen overnight. We need to see what this means and how long it will last. For instance, can the Russian ownership share be reduced below 50% so we can negotiate with the Russians—I don’t know. They (the Russians) hold 56% or so. Whether we buy part of it and then are allowed to proceed—I don’t know what they (the Americans) mean. We have also discussed gas arrangements," Vučić said.

The close ally of Vladimir Putin emphasized that "Serbia will find a solution and must speak with both the Americans and the Russians."
"All gas and oil reserves in Serbia have been depleted. Now, no matter how much we purchase, we will have to pay a higher price. Nobody knows exactly why or how—it doesn’t matter. The price will be much higher. My only question is, where will we find the money? The state doesn’t have to borrow. But there’s something worse than borrowing, and that’s a deficit," Vučić added.

According to him, all of this stems from Serbia’s refusal to impose sanctions on Russia following its military aggression in Ukraine in February 2022.

Vučić also mentioned the "possibility of purchasing" the Russian stake but noted that it is not a long-term solution.

"This is a serious problem. At this moment, we could provide a billion euros, which is an enormous sum, but it’s not a long-term solution. It’s a tough decision. This decision has been calculated (by the Americans) to force us to impose sanctions on the Russians... Here, the only major Russian-owned company is NIS, which has majority ownership. NIS still contributes about 9% of the budget," he stated.