Serbia's Russian Gas Deal: Moscow Will Talk Only to the New Government

Russia will consider extending its gas supply arrangement with Serbia only after it receives an official request from the country's new government, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing in Moscow on Thursday, 5 November. She said the topic would have to be revisited once Serbia's state bodies are formed, according to BBC News in Serbian. Serbia's current short-term arrangement with Russia expires on 31 December 2026.

Why the gas contract matters for Serbia

Russia supplies about 90% of Serbia's natural gas, Balkan Green Energy News reports. The last three-year contract expired at the end of May 2025 and has since been kept alive through a series of short annexes, the most recent signed on 30 September and running to the end of this year. Serbia buys the gas on flexible terms; neither side has published the volumes or price of the current arrangement.

What the Student List is asking for

Zakharova was responding to a press conference held on 4 November by the Student List, which won a parliamentary majority in October and is expected to form the next government. Dejan Radivojević, a professor at the Belgrade Faculty of Mining and Geology who spoke for the list, argued that rolling short extensions give too little predictability and called for a multi-year agreement with clearly defined quantities, prices and delivery terms. He also named alternative routes, including Azerbaijani gas, the LNG terminal at Alexandroupolis in Greece and interconnectors with Hungary and Romania, while noting that pipeline capacity does not guarantee available supply.

Another Student List candidate, academician Radomir Saičić, told NIN last week that once a government is in place, delegations would travel to Moscow to discuss gas and to Washington to discuss US sanctions on the oil company NIS, whose operating licence has been extended to 11 December.

Fuel excise and electricity on the same list

The list also asked the caretaker government to extend a temporary 25% cut in fuel excise duties, which was prolonged on 30 October to 8 November. Radivojević warned that if the cut lapses and is passed on in full, petrol could rise by more than 21 dinars per litre and diesel by more than 22. On electricity, the list asked state utility EPS to publish data on available generating capacity and to fund imports for the whole heating season.

Caretaker energy minister Dubravka Đedović Handanović has said Serbia is energy-stable, while describing the budget cost of the excise cut as significant, BBC News in Serbian reported.