Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) leader Miloš Vučević said on Saturday that the possibility of Croatia’s oil company INA purchasing Serbia’s state-run Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS) “is not on the table,” following U.S. sanctions imposed on NIS earlier this week.
Vučević, who served as Serbia’s prime minister until earlier this year, said the government was seeking alternative solutions for the company, which is majority-owned by Russia’s Gazprom Neft.
Ahead of Monday’s planned visit by Gazprom Neft CEO Alexander Dyukov to Belgrade, Vučević said discussions would focus on long-term responses to the sanctions and include “several possible options.”
“We should not underestimate Croatia’s moves — they have their own economic and political interests — but I believe an INA takeover would not be good for Serbia,” Vučević told TV Pink. “We need to look for another solution.”
He stressed that Serbia must avoid jeopardizing its future gas supply arrangements with Russia, its only current source of natural gas for households and industry. “Serbia does not have the infrastructure to bring in gas from other directions in significant quantities,” he said.
Vučević described Serbia’s position as “difficult,” caught between U.S. and Russian geopolitical pressures. “Serbia is like a square on a chessboard between two grandmasters,” he said. “This is a classic case of becoming collateral damage in a geopolitical game. As a small country, Serbia cannot afford to give up cooperation with either Moscow or Washington.”