Djedovic Handanovic: Hungary supported Serbia on NIS issue

BELGRADE - Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto in Belgrade, Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said they had discussed the announced US sanctions on Serbia's majority Russian-owned oil company NIS and that Hungary had supported Serbia on that issue, as well as that the Hungarian oil company MOL had offered to double its capacities to help Serbia in case the sanctions took effect.

"The director of Hungary's MOL, a company that is present in the Serbian market, as well as in retail sales, was also here today. They expressed readiness to help us in case the undesired sanctions take effect and said they are ready to double their capacities," Djedovic Handanovic said.

"We discussed NIS, the announced introduction of sanctions by the US administration and decisions made during the tenure of President Biden's administration," she said, thanking Hungary for supporting a Serbia-backed NIS request for permission to continue operating while a sustainable solution is being sought to lift the sanctions.

"We are in a situation that is not simple and we will continue dialogue with the US side as early as today," Djedovic Handanovic said.

"We are also waiting for the Russian side to take certain steps because it is their company that is facing sanctions," she said.

Szijjarto said US sanctions in the energy sector, including the announced sanctions against NIS, were a result of the Biden administration's "political revenge" against the central European region.