The U.S. State Department has refrained from commenting on Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić’s recent claims that the United States will impose sanctions on the Serbian Oil Industry (NIS) due to its majority Russian ownership.
In a brief response to Radio Free Europe (RSE), the U.S. State Department emphasized, “In general, we do not comment on private diplomatic conversations and do not prejudge sanctions.”
Over the past two weeks, Vučić has repeatedly stated that sanctions on NIS were imminent, with his most recent comments made on January 5 to Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS).
The previous day, on January 4, Vučić mentioned that U.S. Undersecretary for Economic Growth, Energy and Environment, Jose Fernandez, had confirmed that the U.S. would impose direct sanctions on NIS.
This follows earlier remarks from U.S. Ambassador to Serbia, Christopher Hill, who told RTS on December 23 that no such sanctions had been announced. Hill acknowledged concerns about whether the Russian-owned NIS was in any way contributing to financing the war in Ukraine, stressing that such questions deserved careful examination.
In response to potential sanctions, the Serbian government has established a Coordination Body to secure the country’s oil and gas supply.
Since 2008, the Russian state-owned company Gazprom Neft, and its parent company Gazprom, have held a majority stake of 56.15% in NIS, while Serbia owns 29.87%.
