Serbia's main gas supplier that is controlled by Russia faces US sanctions, president says

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — The United States plans to introduce sanctions against Serbia’s main gas supplier that is controlled by Russia, Serbia’s president said Saturday.

President Aleksandar Vucic told state RTS broadcaster that Serbia has been officially informed that the decision on sanctions will come into force on Jan. 1 but that he has so far not received any related documents from the U.S.

There has been no comment from U.S. officials.

Serbia almost entirely depends on Russian gas, which it receives through pipelines in neighboring states. The gas is then distributed by Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS), which is majority-owned by Russia’s state oil monopoly Gazprom Neft.

Vucic said that after receiving the official documents, “we will talk to the Americans first, then we go talk to the Russians” to try to reverse the decision. “At the same time, we will try to preserve our friendly relations with the Russians and not to spoil relations with those who impose sanctions,” he added.

Although formally seeking European Union membership, Serbia has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia over its invasion in Ukraine, in part because of the crucial Russian gas deliveries.

Vucic said that despite the embargo threat, ” I’m not ready at this moment to discuss potential sanctions against Moscow.”

Asked if the threat of U.S. sanctions against Serbia could change with the arrival of Donald Trump’s administration in January, Vucic said, “We must first get the (official) documents, and then talk to the current administration, because we are in a hurry.”

The Serbian president is facing one of the biggest threats to more than a decade of his increasingly autocratic rule. Protests have been spreading by university students and others following the collapse last month of a concrete canopy at a railway station in the country’s north that killed 15 people on Nov. 1.

Many in Serbia believe rampant corruption and nepotism among state officials led to sloppy work on the building reconstruction, which was part of a wider railroad project with Chinese state companies.