President says US is considering sanctions against a Serbian oil company majority owned by Russians

Aleksandar Vucic, president of Serbia, said that the United States would introduce financial sanctions in the next few days against Serbia's NIS oil company, which is owned in majority by Russia's Gazprom and Gazprom.

Vucic, a reporter for Informer TV, said: "We received confirmation that the U.S. is going to introduce sanctions in the next few weeks against NIS due to Russian ownership."

He said that the UK and European Union will likely follow the U.S. by introducing sanctions. This means that oil shipments via a pipeline coming from Croatia will be halted.

Vucic stated that they are still awaiting an official document with all the details.

The U.S. Treasury Department didn't immediately respond to an inquiry for comment.

Serbia has condemned Russia's invasion in Ukraine at the United Nations, and other international forums. However, it has refused to comply with Western pressures for sanctions.

The Balkan nation is dependent on Russian Gas. Gazprom and Gazprom, both Russian companies, own 50% of NIS and 6.15 % respectively. The government holds 29.87% of the shares, while small investors hold the rest.

Vucic stated, "We'll have to see if we can reduce Russian ownership to below 50%. We will also need to discuss this with our Russian partners." (Reporting and editing by Rod Nickel; Ivana Sekularac)

(source: Reuters)