The only condition of the United States for the Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS) is that there is no flow of money to Russia, said the US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, James O'Brien.
The US official said the US does not want Moscow to lead the NIS.
"The only way for the risk to be zero is for the share of Russian ownership to be zero. This is the attitude with which we enter this conversation. We have already done this with other Russian companies in other countries such as the Netherlands, Switzerland and Turkey," O'Brien told Serbian Radio Television (RTS) on Sunday.
He added that the US will follow the path towards, as he said, the constructive ownership of the NIS, from which Serbia benefits.
Serbia's oil industry was sanctioned by the United States Treasury Department on January 10, as it is owned by the Russian company Gazprom Nefta.
The NIS company was sanctioned because of the so-called "secondary risk", that is, because of the connection with the Russian Gazprom.
Richard Verma, the US Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, said in Belgrade on Saturday that Serbia will not face economic consequences if Russian ownership is removed from NIS.
Serbia awaits Russia's position
Serbia expects talks with Russia to resolve the issue, as Washington and Belgrade raised the issue of Russian ownership of the NIS.
"We need to know exactly what the conditions are and then we will be able to talk with the Russian side", said the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, on Saturday.
Gazprom Neft is under European and American sanctions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but the world's largest gas producer, Gazprom, is not subject to the embargo of Western countries.
The Russian state company, Gazprom Neft, has held a majority stake in NIS since 2008, while from 2022, its parent company, Gazprom, also holds shares. /REL (A2 Televizion)
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