Belgrade: Serbia has secured another three-month extension of its gas deal with Russia, President Aleksandar Vucic said Monday after a call with Vladimir Putin, as Belgrade seeks a longer-term agreement.
The Balkan nation remains heavily dependent on Russian gas, but has failed to secure a longer contract since its previous three-year deal expired last summer, relying instead on a series of short-term extensions.
"We have secured another three-month extension of the gas contract on very favourable terms," Vucic said following the call.
The Serbian leader claimed that through the deal, the country would pay around half the market price for gas, while taking around six million cubic metres per day.
Despite its aspirations for EU membership, Serbia is one of the few European countries to maintain close ties with the Kremlin since the invasion of Ukraine began.
While it also imports gas from Azerbaijan and has some domestic production, that is not enough to offset any loss of the Russian supply.
At the same time, Serbia is grappling with US sanctions on its largest oil firm, Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS), over its majority Russian ownership.
A full Russian exit is a condition for lifting the sanctions, and talks on the sale of the 56-percent stake to Hungarian energy giant MOL have been underway for months.
The United States has set May 22 as the deadline for the sale to be completed.
