site.btaSerbian President Vucic Fears the US Will No Longer Delay Sanctions on Serbian Oil Company NIS

“I fear there will be no further delay to the US sanctions on the Serbian oil company NIS,” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday, according to Serbian media.

At the end of August, the United States postponed for a sixth time the imposition of sanctions on Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) – a Serbian oil company majority-owned by Russia’s Gazprom. NIS operates the country’s only oil refinery, located in Pancevo, near Belgrade. The current postponement expires on 26 September, and on Friday the company officially requested another extension.

NIS was placed on a sanctions list in early January 2025 due to its links with Gazprom Neft, which is under Western sanctions in connection with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

President Vucic also announced that from 1 October, salaries in the education and healthcare sectors will be increased by five percent as an extraordinary measure, with a regular salary increase scheduled for 1 January.

He addressed the case of student Bogdan Jovicic, whose arrest sparked protests in several Serbian cities on Thursday evening. According to Vucic, the student was detained “for committing brutal violence against private property and damaging someone’s premises.”

Vucic said that the protests drew only 3,150 people across the country. He criticised the media for reporting on the arrest of “the poor, innocent student” without showing the reasons for his arrest, “even though they could have.”

In a separate development, the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad has re-filed charges against 13 individuals in connection with the collapse of the canopy at the city’s train station on 1 November 2024, which resulted in 16 deaths and one serious injury. Among the accused are: former construction minister Goran Vesic, his former ministry aide Anita Dimoski, the former acting director of Serbia’s rail infrastructure company Jelena Tanaskovic, and its former general director Nebojsa Surlan. All of the accused are currently under house arrest, according to the latest court decision. The canope's collapse sparked large-scale anti-government and anti-corruption protests across the Serbia, which are ongoing to this day. 

Vucic also commented on reports that students are preparing to put forward parliamentary candidates ahead of potential early elections. According to the president, the opposition will lose, as it is likely to appear with “five, six or ten different lists due to competing interests.”

At the end of his interview with Blic TV, Vucic invited citizens to attend the military parade scheduled for Saturday in Belgrade.