Peskov said Putin's contacts with leaders of friendly countries were quickly coordinated

Russian President Vladimir Putin 's contacts with the leaders of the countries friendly to Russia are agreed upon as quickly as possible. This was stated by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov to TASS on January 4.

Earlier in the day, the RTV television channel reported that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic plans to request a telephone conversation with Putin between January 25 and 27. It was reported that he intends to discuss the possible imposition of US sanctions on Serbian oil company NIS, 56.15% of which is owned by Gazprom Neft and Gazprom.

"Talks with our friends and partners at the highest and other levels are coordinated as quickly as possible," Peskov said.

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Earlier, on January 2, the Serbian president said he had talked to U.S. Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and Environment Jose Fernandez. Based on the results of their conversation, there is no good news on the issue of expected sanctions of the states against NIS, he noted.

Vucic announced the start of talks with Russia and the United States over the possible imposition of sanctions against NIS from the American side on December 16. On December 14, Vucic said amid reports of U.S. plans to impose sanctions on NIS that Serbia was not ready "even to discuss" potential sanctions against Russia.

Before that, on October 25, the Balkan republic's Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin told Izvestia that Serbia was ready to increase the transit of Russian gas through its territory to EU countries. In addition, the republic has signed an agreement with Gazprom to increase gas imports.

Western countries stepped up sanctions pressure on Russia after the start of the special operation to protect civilians in Donbass, which was announced on February 24.