Vučić says Serbia needs to find an alternative to Russian oil

Serbia, due to Western sanctions on oil supplies by tankers from RUSSIA, must find an alternative to Russian oil. This was stated by President Aleksandar Vucic, Kurir reports.

According to him, despite the lowest gasoline prices in the region, Serbia may face problems in the near future. He pointed out that due to anti-Russian sanctions, oil supplies through companies where Russians are the majority owners will soon become impossible.

“The big and strategic problem is that we have to find a solution and a replacement for Russian oil, and until then we are working on new storage facilities, we find them in private commercial structures,” Vučić said.

At the same time, the President added that Serbia "begins to be blackmailed" with Iraqi oil, and European producers refuse to cooperate.

At the end of May, the European Union agreed on the sixth package of sanctions, which implies the introduction of a partial embargo on the import of Russian oil. On June 2, the new restrictions were approved by the ambassadors of the EU countries, at a higher level the document was adopted the next day.

As the HEAD of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, explained, sea transportation, which accounts for two thirds of Russian exports, fell under the ban. The EU received the rest via oil pipelines, while Poland and Germany decided to refuse any form of Russian oil supplies, so by the end of the year it will only enter the EU through the southern part of the Druzhba pipeline, which accounts for 10% of the total volume of oil bought by the EU at Russia. The import of oil from Russia to the EU countries will be completely banned six months after the approval of a new package of sanctions, and oil products - eight.

Vučić previously said that EU sanctions against Russian oil “stole up to $600 million from the pockets” of Serbian citizens. At the same time, according to Vučić, the biggest problems await the citizens of Serbia after December 1, when the grace period ends and the oil embargo against Russia begins to operate.

The Kremlin called Western sanctions illegal and assumed that if the EU refuses to buy Russian oil, then Russia will compensate for these volumes with sales in the east. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak has previously warned that if the embargo is adopted, the price of oil could soar to $300 per barrel.