Moscow to Serbia's New Leaders: First a Government, Then Gas - and the Contract Expires on December 31

The winners of Serbia's elections don't have a government yet, and they've already had their first lesson from Moscow. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded to announcements by the Student List that it would send a delegation to Russia to negotiate on gas: form your government first, then send a formal request.

The announcement came from Radomir Saičić, a representative of the list. According to him, within the first 30 days of the new government's work, delegations should talk to Russia about the gas arrangement and to American representatives about the sanctions on Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS), the Serbian oil company. A plan on two fronts - East and West at the same time. Belgrade knows this exercise by heart.

Zakharova was polite, but clear. Moscow, she said, is closely following political developments in Serbia and wishes the "fraternal Serbian people" success in getting through the "complicated post-election period". As for gas - the topic should be revisited once the organs of state power have been formed. When exactly, she didn't say.

And the clock is ticking. The contract for Russian gas deliveries to Serbia expires on December 31. The three-year arrangement already ended in May 2025, and since then the gas has flowed on short-term extensions - the latest valid until the end of 2026. So the new government will be negotiating on gas while it's still handing out ministerial chairs.

Translated from diplomatic language, the message is simple: Moscow wants to know who it's sitting down with before it sits down at all. A polite sentence about a "fraternal people", and underneath it - a reminder that gas has never been just trade.

For the Balkans, this is a familiar scene. When winter depends on a single supplier, every change of government becomes an energy exam too. Will Serbia's new government manage to balance between Russian gas and American sanctions better than the last one - or will it first learn how much waiting costs when a contract expires in the middle of winter?