Serbian President Vucic says Russia and Serbia to sign 3-year gas contract

Serbian leader Aleksandar Vučić on Sunday said that he has agreed to a three-year gas supply contract with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin during the telephonic conversation held earlier on Sunday, May 29. Further details are yet to be finalised with Russia’s state corporation Gazprom. Russia’s President assured his Serb counterpart that Moscow will continue the undisrupted supply of gas to Serbia despite the ongoing war in Ukraine. The two leaders discussed the issues of Ukraine, and Kosovo, Kremlin said in an officially published statement.

Putin and Vučić also discussed expanding Belgrade’s gas storage network and expanding the mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation. Russia aims to bolster trade ties with allies elsewhere except Europe, particularly in view of the Western coordinated sanctions against the Russian Federation with an aim to tatter its economy, trade, and commerce. Russia and Serbia agreed to consistently strengthen the strategic partnership between the two nations. “It was agreed, in particular, that Russia will continue to supply uninterrupted natural gas to Serbia. The exchange of views continued on a number of international topics—the situation in Ukraine and developments around Kosovo,” Kremlin notified in an officially published statement on May 29. 

Moscow may convince Serbia to undermine independence of Kosovo

Serbian leader Vucic had earlier highlighted three main concerns for Belgrade: Russian natural gas supply currency payment, reliable deliveries, and impact on energy purchase due to the ongoing conflict with Ukraine. As Russia’s leader Putin reaffirmed that Moscow would continue the undisrupted supply of Russian gas, Vucic said that he hopes Serbia "will get an honest price.”

Regional leaders had earlier warned that Moscow may convince Serbia to undermine the independence of Kosovo and different western Balkan states, as EU and NATO allured the Balkan states to join the defence Alliance. 

Kosovo’s prime minister, Albin Kurti, had warned that “it is in the interest of the Russian Federation to have new battlegrounds because they do not want to go back to peace.” President Vjosa Osmani had predicted that “Russia, by destabilising the western Balkans, will seek to destabilise the whole of Europe.” Member of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s tripartite presidency, Šefik Džaferović, meanwhile warned that his country was vulnerable and weak to confront Russia, after Serb member of the presidency Milorad Dodik, threatened to withdraw Bosnian Serb participation from the nationwide military, judiciary and taxation system.