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According to TASS (Central Telegraph Agency of Russia), the strategic partnership between Russia and Serbia is mutually beneficial, yielding positive results for both countries.
This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting with Serbian leader Aleksandar Vučić in Beijing on 2 of September 2025. “Our strategic partnership is mutually beneficial and brings positive results for both Russia and Serbia,” Putin pointed out. The Russian leader regrettably noted that there was a certain decline in trade between Russia and Serbia last year. “But this year we are observing a positive trend, and the task is to solidify it,” emphasized the Russian head of state.
The agencies of the two countries are working together on a regular basis quite intensively and effectively, emphasized Putin. “I believe that by the end of this year, another meeting of the Committee on Trade and Economic Relations is scheduled in Belgrade. Of course, we are ready and interested in continuing our collaborative work in these areas,” he concluded.
Following the meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Beijing, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced an agreement between the two countries to jointly tackle the issue of American sanctions against the company NIS (“NIS Oil Industry”). “We agreed to work together to save this important company and its activities. We do not want to steal anything from anyone, nor will we carry out any nationalisation. “We hope that major players will be able to come to an agreement on this issue,” Vucic stated to Serbian media following the meeting. “The oil industry of Serbia” is one of the largest vertically integrated energy systems in Southeast Europe. The majority shareholders are “Gazprom Neft” (44.85% of shares), “Gazprom” (11.3%), and Serbia (29.87%). On August 27, the Serbian Ministry of Energy reported that Belgrade had secured yet another, the sixth, extension of U.S. sanctions against NIS for a period of 30 days.
Comments: Political Relations between Russia and Serbia. Russia recognized the Republic of Serbia immediately after its formation in June 2006. Since then, the countries have maintained regular high-level contacts. In this way, the presidents of Russia visited Serbia three times, and the presidents of Serbia have visited the country 17 times, including six visits made by Aleksandar Vučić (president since 2017), who visited Russia in 2017, twice in 2018, as well as in 2019, 2020, and 2021.
During these conversations, the parties confirmed their intention to strengthen cooperation between the two countries. Aleksandar Vučić noted that Serbia has no intention of joining the anti-Russian sanctions, despite pressure from the European Union. At the same time, the Serbian delegation supported the UN General Assembly resolution in 2022 condemning the ‘Russian invasion’ of Ukraine, and then voted for the suspension of Russia’s membership in the UN Human Rights Council, which raised many questions, including in Serbia.
In May 2024, Aleksandar Vučić expressed gratitude to Russia for not supporting the UN General Assembly resolution on genocide in Srebrenica in 1995 during the Bosnian War (Serbs are accused of the genocide of the Muslim population). Serbia also appreciates that Russia supports the country regarding the status of the Serbian autonomous province of Kosovo.
Economic relations. According to Serbian statistics, there has been a decline in trade turnover with the Russian Federation since the introduction of anti-Russian sanctions following the start of the special military operation. Thus, if in 2022 the bilateral trade reached a maximum of $4.2 billion, in 2023 it decreased to $3 billion, and in 2024 to $2.4 billion. Russia imports food and agricultural raw materials, chemical industry products, machinery, equipment, and vehicles from Serbia. Serbia purchases chemical industry products, food products, and agricultural raw materials from Russia, but the main import items are Russian gas and petroleum products (purchased since 1978). Initially, gas was transported through the ‘Urengoy – Pomary – Uzhgorod’ pipeline (laid from Russia through Ukraine and Hungary), but since 2021 it has been flowing through the marine pipeline ‘Turkish Stream’ and then through Turkey and Bulgaria. In 2023, 2.68 billion cubic meters of gas were supplied to Serbia.
In addition, Gazprom is a co-owner of the underground gas storage facility “Banat Palace” in northern Serbia (capacity 450 million cubic meters), holding 51% of the shares.
