Numerous closed-door meetings are underway, and the question is whether any of them will produce a solution to the US sanctions against the NIS, which are set to take effect on February 25. What was the outcome of the meeting between Sergej Lavrov and Marko Đurić
Buying time, waiting for tensions between Russia and America to subside or additional threats - based on the statements of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov, after the meeting with his Serbian colleague Marko Đurić, it is difficult to determine how the work will go Oil Industry of Serbia look like in a week.
Lavrov said that he discussed the situation in the field of energy cooperation with Đurić "in great detail" and pointed out that Russia is the largest supplier of natural gas to Serbia, as well as providing up to 85 percent of the demand for this energy source.
"We never deceived anyone, we certainly provided our Serbian friends with that energy source," Lavrov said.
Seven more days
Energy expert Miodrag Kapor tells "Vreme" that what the ministers said behind closed doors is much more important than what the ministers announced publicly, but that the situation on the ground is not promising.
"I do not believe that Serbia will wait for better relations to be established between the two powers, which they are started by Lavrov and Rubio a meeting about Ukraine - it's all on a long stick," says Kapor. "Nevertheless, if nothing is agreed upon, on February 25, NIS will have a problem with payment transactions, so the question is how the employees will be paid their salaries." They won't work with cards, so you won't be able to shop with them at the pumps either."
On February 18, high-ranking officials of Russia and the United States of America began talks on improving relations and ending the war in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Ukraine. The State Department said the talks in Riyadh are the first step to show whether Russia is serious about ending the war in Ukraine, but Moscow has commented that its goal is to normalize relations with America, which imposed a series of sanctions on it after the invasion of Ukraine.
If nothing changes, starting next week, Serbia will have to pour gasoline from its own reserves, which make up about 25 percent of the country's total needs.
In the meantime, OFAC, the American Office for the Management of Assets Abroad, which makes the decision on sanctions, sent a warning to Tajikistan about the sanctions that will come into effect because Gastrom Neft operates in this country, and Kapor says that in this way America is increasing the pressure.
The same body still has not responded to the request of Serbia and Hungary to postpone the sanctions against NIS for 90 days, so as not to destabilize the energy situation in the region.
Bajatović: There will certainly be delays
Srbijagas CEO Dušan Bajatović, who widely praised the meeting in Moscow between Russia and Serbia on the topic of energy, was convinced of the postponement of the sanctions.
He is convinced that Lavrov will be the main negotiator on the Russian side in the agreement regarding the NIS.
"There were certainly unofficial contacts, we have very good relations, but the most important thing is that we finally had a meeting between two diplomats," Bajatović told TV Pink.
He expressed his belief that OFAK will approve the postponement of sanctions on NIS and that in that extended time, Serbia can look for a new chance for an agreement with the Russians, and that the level of sanctions will not be reduced and that the request for the Russians to leave NIS ownership will remain.
Amrich Executive Order 14024 deals with "harmful activities of the Russian Federation abroad" and includes individuals and companies deemed to be contributing to it. The regulation was passed by US President Joe Biden in 2021, it was amended in 2023, and it gives the possibility for the US to impose sanctions on individuals and entities that are estimated to be helping Russia in harmful activities - undermining democratic institutions in the US and partner countries, malicious cyber attacks, endangering stability in countries that the US considers important for its national security, violating the principles of international law, violating the territorial integrity of countries.
Until now, Gazpromneft has not really shown much understanding for the problems of the Serbian side.
The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, previously stated that the Americans are looking for the "complete exit of Russian interest from the company", that they do not allow Russian ownership to be reduced, for example to 49 percent.
The National Bank of Serbia increased the reference interest rate to six percent, for the first time in more than two years. What does this decision mean for citizens who pay off loans, those who plan to borrow and savers?
The state currently has no money for the second installment of subsidies per hectare, announced the Minister of Agriculture in the technical mandate, Dragan Glamočić. Farmers were waiting for the promised help before the autumn sowing, while agro-economic analysts warn that the government's technical mandate does not release the state from its obligations.
The leakage of half a million liters of oil near Sisak stopped the transport of Janaf, on which the supply of the Refinery in Pancevo depends. NIS has requested access to state reserves, and experts warn that a longer interruption could stop production at the Refinery
The import of fossil fuels has cost Serbia more than 57 billion dollars in the past two decades, with a high price for the environment and the health of citizens. The energy transition is expensive, but its delay seems to be even more expensive
Due to damage to the pipeline on the Adriatic pipeline, crude oil transport to Serbia has been suspended, and the Pancevo Refinery is adjusting the volume of processing. NIS also requested diesel from operational reserves
At the moment when the institutions of the Republic are destroyed, when Vučić's octopus is still alive, when people are disgusted by the injustice and the stench left behind by the Essenes regime, we have, as Machiavelli said, only civic virtue as the fuel with which we can return to the beginning
The four independent members of REM are an example of perseverance and civic responsibility. Rodoljub Šabić even, upon leaving the premises of REM, after the sentencing of the Informer, experienced that the Essenes insulted him, hit him with their hands and feet. But that too will soon be over
Vučić pardoned the batterers and Dijana Hrkalović. The election winners should abolish the sultan's power that allows one man to run afoul of the entire judicial system
Interview: Branko Stamenković, public prosecutor of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office
A black picture and the breakdown of the rule of law subscribeThe archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
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