Serbia Shrugs off Russia-Ukraine Gas Dispute

After Russia's state gas company Gazprom on March 1 said it was terminating existing gas contracts with Ukraine, the dispute has again raised concerns about Serbia's energy dependence on the Kremlin.

The Ukrainian embassy in Serbia said Gazprom's decision to withdraw from the contracts signed with Ukraine in 2009 jeopardized not only supplies to Ukraine but also "all future transit to European consumers, including Serbia".  

"Russia and Gazprom are again using gas as a political tool aimed at undermining the security of gas supply to Europe, which is especially cynical at times of current low temperatures in Ukraine and across Europe. This is also a clear abuse of Gazprom's dominant market position," the embassy statement sent to BIRN said.

On March 1, 2018, Gazprom announced it would not restart supplies to Ukraine, after the Stockholm arbitration court ruled on February 28 that Gazprom owed $2.56 billion to Ukraine's Naftogaz.

A Reuters February 28 report noted that Gazprom and Naftogaz lodged multi-billion-dollar claims against each other in June 2014 with the court, which resolves commercial disputes.

After the court ruled that Gazprom had failed to deliver the agreed gas volumes to Ukraine, the Russian company on March 6 filed a complaint against the ruling.

Serbia's Energy Minister, Aleksandar Antic, told media that he was not worried by the latest gas dispute between Ukraine and Russia.

"Serbia has a contract with Gazprom, and we should not be interested in the route that Gazprom uses to supply Serbia with gas," he told the Kopaonik business forum on March 6, according to Serbia's Tanjug news agency.

He explained that Serbia had three delivery points with Gazprom - at Banatski Dvor...