OREANDA-NEWS Serbian President Alexander Vucic, in response to the words of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about the impossibility of nationalizing the "Oil Industry of Serbia" (NIS), declared his willingness to pay a decent price for the company for normal states if its work becomes impossible under US sanctions.

During an embassy round table on Thursday, Lavrov pointed out that there is an intergovernmental agreement between the Russian Federation and Serbia, which states that no nationalization can take place without mutual consent. According to him, the solution may be to find a way for NIS to continue operating, regardless of "the possibilities that the United States has to punish this enterprise."

"Everything that our Russian friends think we can help to ensure that NIS continues to work normally, we have done so far and will always do. I'm afraid it's not as simple as it sounds, but if they have any ideas, I'm excited and want to hear.… We will do everything to ensure that the owners of the capital are satisfied, and if the activities of (NIS) become impossible, we will pay as much as is decent for normal people and states. But Serbia will not remain without oil and oil refining and refineries," Vucic told reporters in the city of Nis in response to a request to comment on the words of the Russian Foreign Minister.