Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that he and Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric have reached an agreement to continue joint work to prevent damage to their common interests in the Serbian Oil Industry (NIS).
On January 10, the United States sanctioned NIS because the company is owned by the Russian company Gazprom Neft, with the aim of preventing Russia from using energy revenues to finance the war in Ukraine.
"Certain forces in the West do not want our cooperation and are trying to hinder our cooperation," Lavrov said at a joint conference with Djuric, who is on a two-day visit to Moscow.
Russian companies, Gazprom Neft and Gazprom, own 56.15 percent of NIS's shares, while Serbia owns almost a third of the shares.
Serbia, along with Belarus, are the only European countries that have not imposed sanctions on Russia for the war it launched in Ukraine.
Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric has said that talks on NIS will continue and that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will also discuss this issue with Russian officials.
"The most important thing is that Serbian citizens do not suffer the sanctions against NIS," he said.
The Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS) has filed a request with the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which operates within the US Treasury, to extend the deadline for the implementation of sanctions.
President Vučić said on February 6 that he is still awaiting a response from US officials, and that he considers the postponement of sanctions necessary until a solution is found regarding the ownership of the company.
After meeting with Lavrov, Djuric said that Serbia is on the European path, but will maintain relations with Russia.
"We hope that traditionally friendly relations will reach their full potential in the coming period, and we will work intensively with Russian partners to achieve this goal," Djuric said.
Serbia depends on Russia for natural gas supplies, and counts on Moscow's support to oppose Kosovo's independence in international organizations.
Serbia has supported United Nations resolutions on the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but despite calls from Brussels, it has not distanced itself from official Moscow. /REL (A2 Televizion)
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