Serbia told how ties with Russia help the country

BELGRADE, August 30 — PRIME. The political and economic ties between Serbia and Russia are helping Belgrade to face the winter more prepared for gas supplies than all European countries, said Serbian Minister for Innovation and Technological Development Nenad Popović.

Popovich, who is also co-chair of the Russian-Serbian intergovernmental commission on economic and scientific cooperation, met with Russian Ambassador Alexander Botan-Kharchenko in Belgrade on Tuesday.

“During the meeting, he noted that Serbia is committed to developing even stronger political and economic ties with Russia in the future,” the press service of the Serbian minister said.

“Popović pointed out that the excellent political relations between the two countries, as well as the close personal relations between Presidents Aleksandar Vučić and Vladimir Putin, are a guarantee for the development of the best possible economic and economic cooperation between Serbia and Russia, which ultimately resulted in the most favorable gas price for Serbia, which makes it possible Serbia will have to wait for a winter more prepared than other European countries.

The member of the Serbian Cabinet also thanked Russia for supporting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia on the issue of Kosovo and Metohija and confirmed that “Serbia will not impose sanctions against the Russian Federation.”

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said earlier that the country would not be able to pay for gas supplies and would be bankrupt at current prices of about 4,000 euros per 1,000 cubic meters, if it had not started making reserves back in May, the only supplier is Russia.

The Serbian leader said in an address to citizens on August 27 that under the current three-year agreement with Gazprom, Belgrade receives about 63% of its needs – 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year, for which it pays 800 million euros. The Serbian authorities are forced to buy the missing 1.2 billion cubic meters on the market.

Vučić said in early August that Serbia had reached a historical maximum in terms of natural gas reserves both domestically and on the territory of Hungary – at that time 262 million cubic meters of gas in the Serbian part of the Banatski Dvor underground storage, and another 200 million cubic meters in Hungary.

At the end of July, the President of Serbia said that the country’s authorities, due to the global crisis and its impact on energy and food supply, are actually introducing a state of emergency from August 1 to March 31.