The new package of sanctions against Russia, prepared by the European Union, will not include the exemption, i.e. derogation for the Western Balkans, therefore also for Serbia, due to Belgrade's attitude towards official Moscow.

This effectively means that, as stated in the EU's sixth package of sanctions, from November 1, Serbia will not be able to be supplied via the Adriatic Pipeline, which calls into question the price on the domestic market, as well as the choice of alternative delivery routes.

"Serbia does not impose sanctions on Russia, therefore it should not benefit from the concession. Other EU member states have also agreed to this position," said a diplomatic source involved in the discussions on the new package of sanctions, Radio Free Europe reports.

In the first draft of the proposal for this package of sanctions, the Western Balkans were exempted from the restrictions related to the import of Russian crude oil. This proposal states that it is necessary to provide for a derogation for the countries of the Western Balkans in order to protect the energy security of the region.

Initially, the transit of Russian crude oil through the pipeline through Croatia was to be allowed, provided that this transit remained within the limits of the average levels of previous years. After discussion at the level of ambassadors of EU member states, the derogation paragraph was removed due to Serbia's non-compliance with EU sanctions against Russia, which are a response to Russian aggression against Ukraine, Radio Free Europe reports.

In addition, as reported by the Croatian "Index", the second reason is that, after a thorough analysis, EU experts have concluded that there is sufficient diversification of crude oil sources.

From November 1, Serbia will not be able to receive Russian oil via the Adriatic Pipeline (JANAF) or any other port or sea route. Its price, as well as fears of possible sanctions, were the reason why Serbia significantly increased its imports of crude oil from Moscow in the previous period, from 16 last year to as much as 60 percent. For this reason, imports from Iraq, where 47% of crude oil came from last year, as well as from Kazakhstan, which is represented on the Serbian market by 10%, were significantly reduced.

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