Vucic calls on OFAC, US government to grant operating licence to NIS

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Tuesday reiterated a call to the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Washington government to grant an operating licence to Serbia's Russian majority-owned oil company NIS within 48 hours and offered guarantees that Serbia would comply with US sanctions.

"That is my plea and my request to the Americans," Vucic said in an extraordinary public address from the Presidency of Serbia.

"I think that is fair because, if you have allowed the Russian banking sector, through the OFAC, to finance nuclear power plants, and you do not grant us an operating licence in spite of the fact that we say and guarantee that we will comply with your sanctions, then you should just think about whether you are being fair to Serbia or not - and this has to do with facilities that were bombed and destroyed in 1999," Vucic said in a message to the US side.

"Hopefully the sanctions will be lifted, but that will not happen soon," Vucic said, noting that a solution for peace between Russia and Ukraine was, in fact, not close.

Vucic also said he had proposed to the Serbian government to set a 50-day deadline for finding a buyer for NIS, rather than immediately proceed to nationalisation of the company, and added that the government had accepted the proposal.

Due to its Russian-majority ownership, NIS has been under US sanctions since October 9.

Vucic: Secondary sanctions over NIS would jeopardise life in Serbia

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday US sanctions over Serbia's Russian-majority owned oil company NIS could also include secondary sanctions.

"The National Bank, as well as all commercial banks working with NIS, have received a warning that they may become subject to sanctions. That definitely puts our commercial banks and our central bank in jeopardy as well. That means there can be a complete halt of payment transactions and retail (banking) services," Vucic said an extraordinary public address.

He said he had a verbal agreement with the US side that there would be no sanctions on the National Bank of Serbia and Serbian commercial banks.

There will be no threat of secondary sanctions until the US announces its decision on whether it has granted or declined a Serbian request for a new operating licence for NIS, Vucic said.

"If they decline, due to various looming shortages, the operation of our health care system, among other things, will definitely be in jeopardy - above all, emergency medical services as something that is essential, but I will tell you that we have ensured that they can function without problems until at least January 15," Vucic said, adding that supplies to retail chains, including supplies of staple foods to citizens, would also come under threat.

He noted that this was not only about oil or oil derivatives but everything that had to do with life in Serbia.
He said production of all key resources, including electricity, would be in jeopardy, which he noted could cause unforeseeable consequences for businesses and households alike.

Vucic: Serbia a militarily neutral country, we will cooperate with who we want

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday Serbia was a militarily neutral country that was making its own decisions about who it wanted to cooperate with.

Vucic said this in a public address from the Presidency of Serbia, when asked by a reporter to comment on a statement by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that Serbia had a sovereign right to take part in exercises with the Chinese army, but that he would "distance himself from Vucic's cooperation with China."

Vucic noted that, on the other hand, Rutte would not distance himself from Serbia's exercises with NATO or the US.

"We are a militarily neutral country and we will cooperate with who we want to cooperate with," Vucic added, noting that he distanced himself from NATO and everything it had been doing in 1999 and that the Serbs, too, had distanced themselves from that.

Vucic said Serbia maintained good cooperation with NATO, especially through KFOR, the peacekeeping force in Kosovo-Metohija. "We are happy with the very professional relationship we have with KFOR. We have good relations with NATO, and we will continue to. So, thank you to Mr Rutte for distancing himself from me. I have no problem with that - he has done me a favour. Serbia is a free and sovereign country, and will remain that," Vucic concluded.