Austrian Daily: Moscow Sees Oil Company NIS as Warranty of Its Political Influence in Serbia 

Oil and gas company NIS (Photo: NIS)

The Serbian Government has over the past few months missed the opportunity to find a solution for oil and gas company Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS), and is now taking a hit, both from the US and Russia, while it is obvious that Russia does not want to sell its controlling stake in the company as it guarantees Moscow political control over Belgrade, Austrian daily Der Standard has reported. 

“The Serbian Government is to blame itself for having to depend on Russia. Namely, back in 2008, Serbia sold a 51 percent stake in NIS to Russian majority-owned energy corporation Gazprom for EUR400 million, which was ridiculously cheap. With that deal, Belgrade secured guarantees that the Kremlin would veto the recognition of Kosovo’s independence in the UN Security Council, and thereby prevent Kosovo from becoming a member of the UN,” according to Der Standard. 

The daily also referred to some speculations that Russia’s Gazprom could set up a company in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, for to use it to buy its own share in NIS.

“Serbia’s dependence on Russia creates fear in the country that the Kremlin could halt gas supplies to Serbia, as the country also relies on Russian gas,” Der Standard noted. 

The daily also wrote that the “autocratic” regime of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic was now not only pressed by mass nationwide protests, but was also under international pressure, and not only due to the NIS issue, but also because of media reports that Vucic had been allegedly involved in organizing sniper safaris for foreign nationals, who had reportedly wished to shoot at civilians in Sarajevo from the Bosnian Serb positions around the besieged city, during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 
 
Vucic, according to the daily, has recently said that he has never fired a bullet, adding that in the videos showing him at the Serb positions around Sarajevo, it can be clearly seen that he is not carrying an automatic rifle, but a camera tripod. “Only a few years ago, he insisted that he had not carried an assault rifle, but an umbrella,” Der Standard noted.