Serbia: Russians urge final gas, oil deal

Serbia said Monday that a senior Russian delegation had urged finalization of a key gas and oil deal, and described it as Moscow's biggest investment in the Balkans.

The statement issued after talks in Belgrade between the Russians and top Serbian officials said Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu "expressed confidence" that the remaining details of the energy accord will be hammered out "within 60 days" from the formation of the two governments' negotiating teams.

Russian officials did not immediately confirm the Serbian statement.

The Russia-Serbia agreement was signed in Moscow in January. It envisages that part of a pan-European gas pipeline will run through Serbia and that the Russians will buy the majority stake of Serbia's oil monopoly, NIS.

Serbia's parliament ratified the agreement with an overwhelming majority earlier this month. However, some officials in the new, pro-Western government have questioned the price of 400 million euros ($582 million) for the purchase of NIS, saying it was too low.

Government minister Mladjan Dinkic, who heads the government team for talks with the Russians and who took part in the Monday meeting, has said he will try to raise the price for NIS before the deal is fully implemented.

Another detail Serbian officials say needs to be discussed with the Russians is the amount of gas that will run through Serbia, with Belgrade seeking assurances that Serbia will become a major transit route for Western Europe.

Criticism in Serbia of the energy deal has increased since the collapse in spring of the government of nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, who has sought to move Serbia closer to Russia and away from the West.

Liberals have argued that Kostunica had given control over Serbia's strategic resources to the Russians in exchange for Moscow's support for Serbia in the dispute with the West over Kosovo.

Shoigu also met with Kostunica earlier Monday. The former prime minister said disagreements within the current government over the price of NIS "have created problems with the Russian partner," Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia reported.

Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, however, told Shoigu that Serbia will stick to its part of the energy agreement, according to the government statement. The statement quoted Cvetkovic as saying that "out country will honor everything that was envisaged in the signed accord."