Vucic: We will finish everything about NIS, maintain good relations with Russia, US

NIS - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday he was confident Serbia would "finish everything" about its Russian-majority owned oil company NIS appropriately and succeed in maintaining good relations with both Russia and the US, and that he expected even greater support from the EU.

NIS is under US sanctions due to its Russian-majority ownership.

"I am very concerned over this energy situation, but we will endure it and finish everything as we should, and we will win and succeed in maintaining good relations with, hopefully, both the Russians and Americans. I believe we will also have good, greater support from Europe," Vucic told Prva TV in the city of Nis.

He also said he was confident the situation regarding NIS would be resolved by January 15 and that he believed negotiations about the company between the Russian side and an Arab company were serious and conducted in good faith.

Vucic said he hoped the Russian side would understand Serbia could not survive without NIS and that it needed an oil refinery.

Russian FM Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday talks about NIS were underway.