Bajatovic: Vucic-Putin agreement shows Russia will not leave Serbia without gas

BELGRADE - Srbijagas CEO Dusan Bajatovic said on Tuesday a three-month extension of Serbia's natural gas arrangement with Russia showed clearly that Russia would not leave Serbia without gas, and added that the gas price would remain the same for households and that it would even be slightly lower for businesses.

Bajatovic said the extension of the deal was excellent news and that the agreement reached by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Russian President Vladimir Putin was another confirmation of good bilateral relations between the two countries.

He said the deal had not been extended for a longer period of time due to additional problems when it comes to payments and interpretation of EU sanctions.

"Serbia is safe until at least January 1, 2028 - we are talking about transit through third countries, from European countries to third countries that are not EU member states," Bajatovic said on the RTS.

"If we are talking about additional costs - say, if problems occur with payments, a payment agent might come up and take five per cent. Who is going to cover that expense? There are many other such things," he added.

Bajatovic said the gas price in the next quarter would be 320 dollars per thousand cubic metres, while the stock market price was 690 dollars.