BELGRADE, December 3. /TASS/. Serbian President Tomislav Nicolic said on Wednesday Russia’s decision to stop the implementation of the South Stream gas project is unfavourable for Serbia.
"Damage that we'll have is not it would be if we impose sanctions against Russia," Nicolic said.
He considers discussions of Serbia’s possible involvement in the gas pipeline, which will run through Turkey, Greece and Macedonia, “unreal talks”. It is impossible to compare this variant with the South Stream project from the point of view of profits that it could bring, Nicolic said.
Energy resources supplies will be discussed with Russia. “We cannot be left without energy carriers,” he said.
“The West and the East play 'cat and mouse' and Serbia suffers from this," he said, adding that the problem between Russia and the EU had emerged before the crisis in Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Moscow would not be able to proceed with the construction of the South Stream project citing the EU’s “unconstructive position.” The Russian leader said Moscow has failed to receive permission from Bulgaria. Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller later confirmed that the South Stream project has been closed.
South Stream is a global infrastructure project of Gazprom for laying a 63-billion cubic meter capacity gas carrier under the Black Sea to countries in South and Central Europe for diversifying natural gas supply routes and warding off transit risks.
In the autumn of 2013, the European Commission launched an anti-monopoly investigation into the South Stream project on suspicion that it disagrees with the rules of the EU’s Third Energy Package under which companies are supposed to separate generation and sales operations from transmission networks.
