US set to sanction Serbia’s main oil company over Russian ownership, Vučić says

Serbian oil company Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) faces financial sanctions from the United States as soon as next month because of its Russian ownership, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said late Friday.

The U.K. and the EU would likely follow the U.S. in introducing sanctions against the company, Vučić said in an interview with Serbian broadcaster Informer TV. That would mean that oil shipments through a pipeline from Croatia would be stopped, he said.

NIS is majority-owned by Russia’s Gazprom and Gazprom Neft.

“We got confirmation that in the next few days, the U.S. will introduce sanctions against NIS because of Russian ownership,” Vučić told Informer TV. “We are still waiting to get an official paper with details.” he added.

The U.S. sanctions could take effect as soon as Jan. 1, Vučić said.

The U.S. government hasn’t commented on the prospect of NIS sanctions. The U.S. Treasury Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, Moldova’s parliament on Friday voted in favor of imposing a state of emergency in the energy sector over fears that Russia could leave the country without sufficient natural gas supplies this winter, according to media reports.

The state of emergency will start on Dec. 16 and last 60 days. A special commission will urgently adopt measures to manage “imminent risks” if Moscow fails to supply gas to the Kuciurgan power plant, the country’s largest, which is situated in the separatist pro-Russian Transnistria region, the AP reported.

Moldova’s Prime Minister Dorin Recean said his country faces an “exceptional situation” in which Moscow could deliberately weaponize energy flows to destabilize the country, and potentially leave people “in the middle of winter without heat and electricity.”