Serbian president, Russia agree on gas supplies for three years

BERLIN. May 30 (Interfax) - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he has reached an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin on a new deal for supplies of Russian gas for three years.

Vucic was reported as saying by European media that he could not name the price at this time, as all the details will be worked out with Gazprom .

He also said he and Putin discussed expanding gas storage capacity in Serbia.

Serbian TV channel RTS reported that later Vucic said that the gas price for Serbia, according to his information, would be in the range of $310 to $408 per 1,000 cubic meters. Based on the fact that Serbia needs 2.2 billion cubic meters of gas per year, this is the best gas price in Europe, he said.

The question of an additional 800 mcm of gas, since consumption in Serbia has grown, remains open, he said. Vucic said he has reached out to Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller to discuss the amount of gas his country needs soon.

If everything that was agreed with Putin is implemented, then Serbia will have a comfortable winter in terms of gas supply, and after negotiations with Gazprom it will be possible to say exactly how much a cubic meter of gas will cost the country on average, Vucic said. Right now Serbia's price is three times lower, and in winter it will be 10-12 times lower than what the rest of Europe pays, he said.

Earlier on Sunday the Kremlin said that Putin and Vucic held talks over the phone and agreed that Russia will continue to supply gas to Serbia without interruption.