BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) – The United States will introduce sanctions against Serbia's main gas supplier controlled by Russia, Serbia's president said Saturday.
President Aleksandar Vučić told state broadcaster RTS that Serbia had been officially informed that the sanctions would come into effect on January 1, but had so far not received any relevant documents from the United States.
U.S. officials could not be reached for comment.
Serbia is almost entirely dependent on Russian gas, which is supplied through pipelines from neighboring countries. The gas will be supplied by Serbian Oil Industries (NIS), which is majority-owned by Russia's state oil monopoly Gazprom Neft.
“We will first talk to the American side and then the Russian side” to reverse the decision, Vučić said after receiving the official document. “At the same time, we will strive to maintain friendly relations with Russia and not undermine relations with countries that have imposed sanctions,” he added.
Although Serbia formally seeks membership in the European Union, it has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, citing vital Russian gas supplies.
Despite the threat of an embargo, Vucic said he was “not ready to discuss potential sanctions against Russia at this time.”
Asked whether the threat of U.S. sanctions against Serbia might change with the arrival of President Donald Trump in January, Vučić said: “First we have to get the (official) documents and then we have to talk to the current administration.'' Because we are in the situation we are in right now.” Hurry up. “
Serbia's president faces one of the biggest threats to more than a decade of increasingly authoritarian rule. Last month, protests by university students and others spread after the concrete eaves of a railway station in the country's north collapsed on November 1, killing 15 people.
Many Serbian citizens believe that rampant corruption and nepotism among state officials led to sloppy work on rebuilding buildings as part of a broader rail project with Chinese state-owned companies.
