Two Republicans in the United States House of Representatives have called on President Donald Trump's administration to continue sanctions against the Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS), the American media outlet The Hill reported on Monday.
NIS is under US sanctions because its majority ownership is in the hands of Russian companies. Russian owners hold 56.15 percent of the shares, of which 44.85 percent belong to state-owned company Gazprom Neft.
Republican Congressmen Joe Wilson and Keith Self sent a letter to the US Treasury Department on Friday, in which they opposed extending sanctions relief for NIS.
"We are writing to respectfully request that you reconsider extending all additional temporary licenses that would allow the Serbian Oil Industry to continue operating, despite US sanctions related to its Russian ownership," the letter states.
The letter is addressed to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. NIS last week asked the US Treasury Department to issue it a new license, which would allow it to continue operating.
The current license for NIS, issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) within the US Treasury Department, expires on September 30. The US administration imposed sanctions on NIS in early 2025, with the aim of preventing Russia from using revenues from the energy sector for the war in Ukraine.
For more than a year, sanctions have been suspended, and since Hungarian company MOL emerged as an interested buyer, OFAC’s license for NIS’s operations has been periodically renewed. NIS supplies 80 percent of Serbia’s energy needs, but is majority-owned by Russian energy giants Gazprom Neft and Gazprom, which are under U.S. sanctions.
Wilson and Self express concern that the exemptions are allowing NIS to drag out negotiations to sell its Russian stake in the company. In January, Hungarian company MOL announced that it had reached an agreement with Gazprom Neft to buy its majority stake in NIS, but the deal has not yet been finalized.
"Negotiations for the final purchase agreement are still ongoing, while MOL has requested your department's further approval to continue operations, despite limited progress," the congressmen said.
"Furthermore, Serbia continues to maintain close political and economic ties with Russia and, unlike most European countries, has not imposed sanctions on Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022," they added.
Concerns have also been expressed in the US Congress over Serbia's ties with Russia. During a debate in mid-September in Congress, bipartisan concern was expressed about Serbia's relations with Russia and China, while questions were also raised about whether the US-Serbia Strategic Dialogue discussed the "malign influence" of Moscow and Beijing./REL
