Russo-Serbian oil telenovela continues: Vucic proposes 50-day deadline for NIS ownership changes

The Serbian government stated that it will give additional 50 days to the Russian side to find a new investor for its stake in the Serbian Oil Industry NIS. The extension might have been motivated by internal Serbian calculations considering the possible outcome of the Russian aggression against Ukraine that might reward the Kremlin's ambitions, in line with the Witkoff-Dmitriev 28-point peace plan.

ADNOC Negotiates to Purchase NIS Stake Amid US Sanctions

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is negotiating to acquire the Russian stake in Serbia’s NIS amid U.S. sanctions affecting the Serbian oil industry. The agreement's future is uncertain, with U.S. sanctions complicating transactions. NIS applied for a license to facilitate negotiations regarding its ownership structure. Neither ADNOC nor the Kremlin has commented.

Games of hunger

The Serbian political discourse features opposing nationalist factions: the ruling Serbian Progressive Party and protesting students. Both groups blame external forces like the EU and scapegoat opposition figures such as Dragan Djilas. A potential scenario suggests emigration may lead to a regression to the economic turmoil of the 1990s.

Marta Kos on Serbia: You cannot sit on two chairs – ask for money from the EU and ask the other side for gas

"If you [Serbia] participate in the action of the army that kills people in Ukraine, forget the accession process, the chapters, such a country can never become a member of the EU, but that is your choice", Marta Kos, the European Commissioner for Enlargement of the European Union said at a meeting with journalists on the sidelines of the EU Enlargement Forum in Brussels.

The best protests Vučić could hope for

Serbian student and civic movement protested this week against the deal that would allow Jared Kushner to develop real estate in Belgrade at the site of the bombed-out General Staff or Generalstab. The protests and counter-protests are marked by similar tactics employed by both opposed camps, which keep evoking nationalism and try to elicit sympathy through hunger strikes.