SERBIA:Serbia's leaders will today give control of their country's finest energy asset to Russia, in what critics have called a "humiliating" show of gratitude for Moscow's opposition to independence for Kosovo.
The visit of president Boris Tadic and prime minister Vojis- lav Kostunica to the Kremlin comes at a tense time in their fractious relationship, as the head of state seeks the premier's support in his February 3rd election run- off against a hard-line nationalist.
Belgrade is believed to have accepted an offer from Kremlin-controlled company Gazprom to buy 51 per cent of state oil firm NIS for €400 million and a pledge to invest a further €500 million.
Gazprom has also promised to route its planned South Stream gas pipeline through Serbia and build a huge gas storage facility in the country, making it a potential energy hub in the Balkans.
The agreement to extend South Stream into Serbia comes just days after Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a deal to build the pipeline across Bulgaria, allowing Gazprom to undermine a rival, planned European Union pipeline called Nabucco.
While Russia has steadily signed up transit countries to the South Stream project, the EU has dithered over Nabucco, despite complaining loudly about Moscow's use of energy as a political weapon and vowing to wean member states off the Kremlin's oil and gas.
The deal that Mr Putin will sign today will also give Russia considerable economic clout in Serbia, at a time when the EU fears the country is slipping into Moscow's orbit due to overwhelming public opposition to Kosovo's independence, which Brussels supports.
While the nationalist Mr Kostunica has lobbied hard for the deal, allies of Mr Tadic have denounced it as a "humiliating" quid pro quo for Moscow's support over Kosovo.
Mr Kostunica's party said yesterday that it would support Mr Tadic in the election run-off only if he promised to reject a pre-accession pact with the EU if it sent a planned 18,000-strong mission to oversee the running of an independent Kosovo. Mr Tadic called the offer "blackmail" that would jeopardise "the European future of Serbia and its children".
