Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and US Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard Verma discussed today the US administration's decision to impose sanctions on over 200 companies in the Russian energy sector, including the Serbian oil company NIS (NIS), HINA reported, quoted by BTA.
According to the decision, the sanctions will enter into full force in 45 days.
Local media in Belgrade reported today that Vucic had requested an extension of the deadline for the implementation of the sanctions, the agency said.
Addressing the public after the announcement from Washington yesterday, Vucic said that the US had said that neither Serbia nor NIS in particular was the target of these sanctions, and that the measures were part of broader actions against Russian companies and related companies, including NIS.
Since 2008 Russian state-owned Gazprom Neft and its parent company Gazprom have a majority stake in NIS of 56.15 percent, while 29.87 percent is owned by Serbia.
Verma said after the meeting with Vucic that the goal of the sanctions is to remove Russia from the ownership structure of NIS and that changing the ownership of NIS would lead to "more peace in the region and diversification of Serbia's energy sources".
"The sanctions are against Russia, not Serbia", the US representative stressed.
He added that Serbia would not suffer economic consequences if it removed Russia from the ownership structure of NIS, Beta news agency reported.
According to the US representative, NIS is the most profitable company in Serbia, but this profit is not used in Serbia, and Russia uses it, "for to finance its brutal aggression against Ukraine".
Verma mentioned that he discussed with Vucic the establishment of a strategic dialogue between the US and Serbia, which would raise their relations to a higher level.
Vucic said that Serbia will rely on energy reserves in the coming period and that there will be no shortage of gas or oil.
At the same time, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said last night that the Croatian government is aware of the new sanctions regime against Russian legal entities and individuals and that communication between the government and US authorities on this issue has been ongoing for several weeks.
Following the announcement of the new US sanctions package, Croatian state-owned oil pipeline operator JANAF issued a statement saying that it has a long-standing partnership with NIS with an active contract for the transportation of 10 million tons of oil from January 1, 2024. until December 31, 2026.
The Croatian oil pipeline operator said it is working intensively with the competent government departments to find solutions to mitigate the consequences on its business operations.
"It is in Croatia's interest that these 45 days be used to resolve the ownership issue. We want JANAF to continue supplying Serbia with oil through our pipelines because we want our neighbor to be stable both economically and in terms of energy security, and the Serbian authorities know this... At the same time, we pay close attention to JANAF's business operations and have taken into account any secondary consequences for JANAF from this sanctions regime. In this sense, we assure that JANAF's operations remain completely unaffected," Plenković stressed last night.