Serbia is Moving towards Energy Independence from Russia, plans Gas from Azerbaijan in 2023

Serbia, which is 100 percent dependent on the Russian Federation for gas supplies, will get the necessary quantities for this winter from Russia, but for 2023 plans to buy gas from Azerbaijan. Zorana Mihajlovic, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Mining of Serbia announced this in an interview with the state-run Serbian TV RTRS. For the diversification of supplies, Belgrade will rely on the gas transmission network of Bulgaria and the interconnector connections that are being built in our country.

Zorana Mihajlovic reiterated the intentions of the Serbian authorities to seek energy independence from Russia and at an energy conference in Sarajevo. "We are currently negotiating with Azerbaijan to reserve capacity for next year, as the Serbia-Bulgaria interconnector will be completed next September," the minister said.

"Our plan is to have different gas suppliers, to be able to buy gas from Azerbaijan or from the LNG terminal in Greece because diversification is the only way of security in the gas sector and we must not allow ourselves to be dependent on only one supplier." - added Mihajlovic. The interconnection between Bulgaria and Greece was completed last week and it is expected to ensure the transport of Azeri gas to Bulgaria, and from there to Europe.

We gave the gas sector to Russia

Zorana Mihajlovic passes for a supporter of Serbia's energy independence and on June 1 this year, in a comment for the BBC about the new contract with Russia for gas supplies, she said that Serbia's problems stem from the fact that for decades the country has decided to use only Russian gas and nothing else. To the question "Why?" Mihajlovic answers with the words:

"Probably because...