Zakharova: Pay No Attention to Speculation about Sale of Russia’s Stake in NIS

Maria Zaharova (Photo: Milos Miskov)

The spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, stated in Moscow on May 21 that one should not pay attention to the speculation around the sale of the Russian stake in the Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) oil company, but wait for the official comments of the participants in negotiations.

“Negotiations around the Naftna Industrija Srbije are conducted on our side by the Ministry of Energy, with participation of representatives of the Gazprom group, in reliance upon the Russian-Serbian inter-governmental agreement on cooperation in the oil and gas sector signed in 2008. I would therefore recommend that we wait for the official comment of the participants in the negotiation process. Let us not pay attention to the speculation around it,” Zakharova stated during a news conference.

Asked about whether Russia was negotiating the sale of NIS with anyone else besides the Hungarian company MOL and about Moscow’s position regarding the potential private buyers of the Russian stake in the company, Zakharova replied that “one should start from the comments of the official representatives who are authorized to conduct the negotiations,” RT Balkan has reported. Zakharova also stated that the most important thing was that NIS “continues to function normally and supply the citizens and commerce of Serbia with the necessary fuels.”

In the recent days, the media have reported that several business people were interested in purchasing Russia’s majority stake in NIS, including Ranko Mimovic and Bogoljub Karic. The sanctions imposed against NIS by the U.S. finance ministry’s Office for Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) because of the Russian majority stake came into effect on Oct. 9, 2025. The deadline set by OFAC for the completion of negotiations about NIS, i.e. the signing of the purchase agreement between Russia’s Gazpromneft and Hungary’s MOL, expires on May 22.