Sawt Falasteen - Serbia's Vucic seeks low-price gas in Putin meeting

Serbia is negotiating a new multi-year gas deal with Russia ahead of the expiration of a three-year supply agreement that runs until the end of May.

Belgrade is heavily reliant on Russia for its gas needs and pays just $275 per 1,000 cubic metres under its current contract with Moscow -- far less than the current market rate in Europe.

The European Union has often voiced concern about Belgrade's close ties with Moscow and has called on Serbia to align its foreign and security policies with those of the bloc.

In a televised meeting with Vucic at the Kremlin, Putin said that Russia remained a "guarantor of Serbia's energy security" and that the two would "definitely discuss" supplies by state-controlled gas giant Gazprom to Serbia.

Vucic acknowledged that Serbia was receiving Russian gas on "very favourable" terms.

"Thank you for that. We hope that it will be possible for us to maintain these conditions and, if I may say so, even improve them," Vucic said in fluent Russian.

Serbia, which is not a member of the EU but is seeking to join, has maintained close ties with Russia throughout Moscow's Ukraine offensive and has not joined the bloc in imposing sanctions on Russia.

H.Darwish--SF-PST