US Calls for End to Russian Ownership of Serbian Oil Companies

The United States will not lift crippling sanctions on Serbian oil company NIS unless Belgrade terminates the firm's majority-Russian ownership, Serbia's energy minister said Saturday, warning the country faced "difficult" decisions.

Washington sanctioned Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS) as part of its crackdown on the Russian energy sector after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The sanctions have hit hard in Serbia, which analysts say is on the brink of a winter energy crisis, with the country's lone oil refinery facing a potential shutdown.

Serbia, which is racing to negotiate the withdrawal of Russian companies from NIS ownership, has asked US President Donald Trump's administration to lift the sanctions in exchange for an agreement to change the firm's management.

But Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said the United States insisted on a full Russian withdrawal from the company first.

"For the first time, the US administration has clearly and unequivocally said it wants a complete change of Russian shareholders," she told journalists.

She said the United States had given Serbia until February 13 to negotiate a solution.

NIS is 45-percent owned by Gazprom Neft, which has been targeted by US sanctions. Its parent company, Gazprom, transferred its 11.3-percent stake in NIS in September to another Russian firm, Intelligence.

The Serbian state holds nearly 30 percent of NIS, with the rest owned by minority shareholders.

Serbia has negotiated several postponements to the sanctions, but the US Treasury Department began applying them on October 9.

Handanovic said the Serbian government was now looking at a possible takeover of NIS, and would hold a special cabinet meeting Sunday on the matter.

"I know President (Aleksandar) Vucic is against nationalisation, as are many of us in the government," she said.

"We will not let our country be put in danger, but we may face some of the most difficult decisions in our history in the coming days.

"I hope our Russian friends will understand the gravity of the situation and help us overcome it."

Serbia, which depends heavily on Russian gas imports, is one of the few European countries not to have imposed sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine war.