Vucic: Ukraine Gas Pipeline Closing Will Not Affect Serbia’s Energy Stability

Balkan Stream gas pipeline (BETAPHOTO/DRAGAN GOJIC)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stated on Jan. 2, in a comment on the shutting down of the gas pipeline running through Ukraine, by which Russia’s gas reached countries in Europe, that this would not affect Serbia’s energy stability.

He told Pink TV that it was now obvious how important the building of the Balkan Stream through Serbia was. “Serbia has sufficient quantities of energy,” Vucic said, adding that this was accomplished thanks to the gas that arrives via the Balkan Stream and is used by the facilities such as the cogeneration plants in Pancevo and Novi Sad.

He further said that Ukraine’s shutting down the flow of Russian gas would create problems for Slovakia and, in the long run, Austria, and that Serbia would secure the reliable transfer of gas from the TurkStream pipeline to the “Slovak friends.” Delivery of Russian gas via Ukraine to other European countries ended on Jan. 1. Ukraine’s operator GTSOU has stated that the contract between Russia and Ukraine from 2019 has expired and that the planned quantity of gas for delivery on Jan. 1 was “zero cubic meters.”