dpa: American pressure towards the de-Russification of Serbia's largest oil company is putting Vučić in difficulties

The Americans have decided to put an end to Russian ownership in the Oil Industry of Serbia, reports Germany's largest news agency dpa.

The media also write about the alleged suspension of the delivery of some Russian weapons to Serbia

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Vučić, Photo: BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC
Vučić, Photo: BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

Serbia maintains good relations with Moscow even during the war in Ukraine, and its oil industry is tied to Russia's, writes Germany's largest news agency dpa.

"Washington no longer wants to allow it," the agency assesses.

The words of the US Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Richard Verma, who spoke with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in Belgrade and said that Washington is working together with Belgrade on the change of ownership in the Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS) are reported.

dpa reminds that the outgoing American administration of President Joseph Biden introduced sanctions against Gazpromneft.

"By weakening the Russian energy sector, the US is trying to undermine the foundation of the Kremlin's finances for aggression against Ukraine," the agency assesses.

Gazpromneft and the parent company Gazprom together hold the majority of shares in Serbian NIS.

"After the conversation with Verma, Vučić said that the leadership in Belgrade needs additional talks with the Americans. Only then, he says, can he approach Moscow with an offer to buy shares held by Gazpromneft," dpa reports.

The German agency assesses that American pressure towards the "derussification" of Serbia's largest oil company "is clearly putting Vučić in difficulty."

"He has been publicly complaining for days that NIS could fall under US sanctions," the agency writes.

Frankfurter Rundschau reminds that NIS is "one of the most profitable companies in Serbia, one of the largest exporters and the backbone of the country's energy system".

The newspaper reports Vučić's words that, according to Washington's request, the Russians will have to sell all their shares in NIS. "As the president said, he intends to talk to Putin, representatives of the US and China."

Canceled purchase of arms from Russia?

Berliner Zeitung reports that Serbia has allegedly canceled some contracts for the supply of Russian weapons because business has become impossible due to international sanctions against Moscow.

The statement of the Chief of the General Staff, Milan Mojsilović, is quoted for Večernje Novosti: "We terminated some contracts and postponed some in the hope that the situation in international relations on a global level will normalize and enable the implementation of contracts."

The newspaper states that Mojsilović did not specify what kind of contracts or weapons were involved.

Berliner Zeitung assesses that Serbia, a candidate for EU membership, "turns more and more to other potential arms suppliers".

"In August of last year, the purchase of 12 Rafale fighter jets from France was confirmed to replace the Russian MiG-29 fleet," the paper writes.

"At the beginning of the month, the new Chinese FK-3 anti-aircraft system was presented, which was delivered in 2022 and is broadly compared to the American Patriot missile system and the Russian S-300. This makes Serbia the first European country to use the (Chinese) system," the paper concludes. .

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