Vucic says he wants to talk to Putin about US sanctions against NIS

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that he wanted to hold a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the US sanctions against the Serbian oil company NIS. Tanjug news agency reported on January 4.

"I will talk to President Putin, please, I will ask for a conversation on the 25th, 27th," Vucic said during a Serbian government meeting.

He clarified that the US sanctions do not refer to companies that are Russian owned, but specifically to NIS. This puts Serbia in a difficult position.

Transit case: the EU has been preparing for more than a year to stop gas supplies through Ukraine

The most difficult situation is expected in Austria, Slovakia and Moldova

Earlier, on January 2, the Serbian president said that he had a conversation with US 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.

Prior to 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 the 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.