Serbian PM Denies Gas Deal With Russia Linked to Sanctions

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic denied that Sunday's deal with Russia over gas prices had any connection with its refusal to impose sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

"There is no sign of equality" between the favourable gas price Serbia agreed with Russia and the fact that Serbia has not sanctioned Russia, she said on Sunday.

"Everyone who accuses us of not imposing sanctions on Russia because of the gas arrangement should be ashamed of themselves. We are not imposing sanctions on Russia out of principle," she added.

"Sanctions do not contribute to peace but antagonize the situation", she maintained, recalling that Serbia was once a victim of sanctions.

Brnabic said that President Aleksandar Vucic "did a great job for Serbia" with the agreement he reached on a favourable gas price during a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier on Sunday.

"He finished a great thing and I really don't know how he succeeded. He did more and got better for Serbia under 100 times more difficult circumstances," said Brnabic.

After his telephone conversation with Putin about the new gas supply contract - the current six-month contract expires on May 31 - Vucic said they had agreed the price of gas would calculated on the basis of the price of oil, which is expected to rise over 3,500 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters by winter.

In the last six months, Serbia has been paying 270 dollars for 1,000 cubic meters.

According to Vucic, a three-year gas supply of 2.2 billion cubic meters was agreed with Putin in principle, and that Serbia needs an additional 800 million cubic meters, because consumption has increased. Vucic said the delivery would be discussed with the director of energy giant...