Serbia is facing the loss of gas from two major sources as US sanctions target the country's main Russian-owned oil company, while Azerbaijan says it cannot supply energy to Serbia, Politico reported.
"These are the most severe sanctions ever imposed on a company in Serbia," said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
The US sanctions against Russia announced on January 10 target Serbia's Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS), majority-owned by Russia's Gazprom and Gazprom Neft.
"They are demanding that we completely withdraw Russian interests. They are not even allowing the possibility of holding a 49% stake, but are demanding a complete withdrawal from NIS," the Serbian President added.
Gazprom Neft holds a 50% stake and Gazprom owns 6.15% of the shares in the Serbian oil and gas supplier. Meanwhile, the Serbian government owns only 29.8% of the company.
On January 10, the US Treasury Department announced new financial sanctions targeting Russia's energy sector, stating that Serbia's gas and oil industries risk facing secondary sanctions if the country continues to conduct transactions with Russia.
On January 11, a press conference was suddenly convened, in which Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced that Azerbaijan would also cut off gas supplies to Serbia.
"I received information from my Azerbaijani brothers and friends that due to force majeure and the problems they are facing, as of now we cannot count on 1.7 million cubic meters of gas being supplied to the country every day," said Aleksandar Vucic.
Azerbaijan is an alternative gas supplier to much of Southeast Europe as well as Italy via the Trans Adriatic pipeline. From there, Azerbaijani gas is distributed to other European countries not part of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC).
Politico commented that both developments are seen as direct challenges to the fragile geopolitical balance that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has spent more than a decade building, in which he accepts Western values and EU policies while maintaining close ties with Russia and China.
"We will protect Serbia's interests at all costs. There will be no shortages and no disasters will happen," Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic affirmed.
Serbia has until March 12 to finalize financial transactions with Gazprom and Gazprom Neft as well as change the ownership structure of NIS, which could see Hungary's MOL buy the Russian stake. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he would speak directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the issue.
