Vucic asked for a meeting with Putin, the Kremlin: “We are holding high-level talks, the meeting as soon as possible.”

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has once again spoken about US sanctions against the Serbian oil industry (NIS). On January 4, Vucic said at the meeting of the Serbian government that the US Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and Environment, Jose Fernandez, had confirmed to him that the United States will impose sanctions. “They will impose sanctions, not just financial sanctions, but comprehensive sanctions against the NIS company.”

These are not sanctions against companies owned by Russia or financed by Russian banks, but direct sanctions against our company NIS,” Vucic said. Vučić said he planned to send a request for a meeting with Putin on January 25-27. This request was answered by the Kremlin, which stated that talks with Serbia were being held at the highest level and that they would agree on a new meeting very soon.

“Talks with our friends and partners are taking place at the highest level and more will be coordinated as soon as possible,” the Kremlin spokesman told TASS when asked about the readiness to organize a meeting between Putin and Vucic. Vucic said the US would officially announce the sanctions by January 15. Belgrade then has 30 days until February 15 to take action.

Since 2008, NIS has been owned by the Russian state-owned company Gazprom Neft and its parent company Gazprom. The European Union and the United States blacklisted Gazprom Neft in 2014 after Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. The majority of NIS shareholders are Gazprom (56.15% of shares) and the Serbian state (29.87%)./TheGeopost/