Serbian analysts: Russia to use gas as tool for political obligation to Serbia

An extremely good conversation and a convenient price. With those words, Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, described the call with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

However, some analysts stress that in addition to the economic price, the political price of gas, which could cost Serbia dearly, is also hidden.

Energy experts say it is currently $310 per cubic metre and that during the coming winter the price could be over $400.

Vulnerative “terms for gas supply are only one side of the medal, warns energy connoisseur Miodrag Kapor, where Russia according to him uses gas as a means of political obligation.

Of course it's not for free. For many reasons. Our allies in the EU will not expect this very well, because they knowingly sacrificed their energy prices due to the Kremlin's aggression against Ukraine”, Kapor said.

It remains to be seen that Europe will react to the Russian-Serbian gas deal, when Violet von Cramon, considered one of Vuciqi's sharpest critics of the European Parliament, arrives in Belgrade.

Serbia is currently fully dependent on Russian gas. Until it meets only 13 per cent of domestic production needs, the rest of Serbia imports it from the Russian Federation.

Under the deal reached at the end of 2008, the Russian side, with 400m euros, has acquired 51 per cent of ownership in the former Serbian oil flag, known as NIS.

At the head of the Serbian state at the time was the Democratic Party of Serbia, led by Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and then-President Boris Tadic's Democratic Party.