Lavrov: Moscow in contact with Serbia over NIS ownership

On the other hand, Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq, after a meeting with the Russian ambassador to Serbia, Bocan-Kharchenko, said he has demanded “from Russian friends” the beginning of consultations and holding meetings for the functioning of NIS in the future.

“ (We also discussed) finding the best solution in bilateral interest, preserving partnership and friendly relations between Serbia and the Russian Federation”, Vuciq wrote in his Instagram account on Tuesday.

Vuciq said on Friday that, following new US sanctions on Russia's oil sector, Russia's Gazprom Neft company will be given a 45-day deadline to exit NIS ownership.

This deadline is also worth Serbia concluding “signing any agreement or contract with the Russian side”.

After that, as he said, sanctions enter into force “fully”.

NIS company is in majority owned by Gazprom Neft, which has shares of 50 per cent, and Gazprom, which has 6.15 per cent of shares.

The Serbian government holds 29.87 per cent of the shares, while small shareholders make up the rest.

Serbia's Oil Industry was sanctioned by the United States Department of Finance on 10 January.

NIS company was sanctioned because of the so-called “secondary risk”, it means due to connection with Russian Gazprom.

Richard Verma, 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./rel