Vulin: Serbia to sign long-term gas arrangement with Russia, solution for NIS due soon

BELGRADE - Srbijagas Supervisory Board President Aleksandar Vulin said on Tuesday he expected Serbia to sign a long-term gas arrangement with Russia and that a solution to the issue of Serbia's oil company NIS would be found soon.

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

"You can be certain that everything will be alright when it comes to energy - a long-term arrangement with the Russian Federation on gas purchases will be signed, after all. Russia has certainly been accommodating and said 'let's get through this winter, there is time for everything," Vulin told Tanjug.

Russia has been a dependable, predictable and very fair partner in the energy sector to date, he noted.

"We have always had sufficient gas quantities, even in excess of what had been agreed on, whenever we needed them and at prices that can only be compared to those Belarus has in its relationship with Russia," Vulin said.

Serbia will continue that policy, Vulin said, noting that, however, he did not support the idea of having only one supplier.

"The EU wants diversification from us, and by saying that, they mean an abolishment of Russia. They are telling us that we should not be dependent on Russia, but on them. That is alright and acceptable? Well, it is not acceptable. Serbia must preserve its independent policy," Vulin noted.

He also said everything regarding the NIS issue would be done in agreement with the Russian side.

Vulin: Disrespect for UN Charter began with breakup of former Yugoslavia, bombings of Srpska, FRY

BELGRADE - Movement of Socialists founder Aleksandar Vulin said on Tuesday disrespect for the UN Charter was evident not only from the example of Venezuela, but also from the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, the bombing of Republika Srpska and the 1999 bombing of the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), as well as from the subsequent recognition of the so-called "Kosovo" as independent.

"It did not happen yesterday, or two days ago, but much before that - it was through our example that they learned how not to respect the UN Charter," Vulin told Tanjug.

Serbia is one of the few countries that respect the UN Charter and it also respects the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but the territorial integrity of Serbia is not respected, he noted. Commenting on developments in Venezuela, Vulin said the situation there was a prelude to complete global instability and that the US, in the vein of a global superpower, had trampled the UN Charter and given itself the right to do the same again in any country in the world that was not capable of defending itself.

What the US has done to Venezuela is the same as what the US and NATO did to the FRY in 1999, but Venezuela offered much weaker resistance compared to the FRY, Vulin said.

"However far Venezuela may seem to be, all this is also impacting Serbia and the overall geopolitical situation," he said.