The government of North Macedonia deals an unexpected blow to Russia

The government will stop importing Russian oil to Macedonia. The Minister of Economy, Kreshnik Bekteshi, has stated that the sanctions against Russia announced by the European Union will also be implemented by our country. Bekteshi says that he is only waiting for the step of his colleague from the Foreign Ministry, Bujar Osmani. Bekteshi assures that there will be no shortage of diesel fuel in the country.

"As the Government, the policy is to follow all the sanctions received by the European Commission, in general the European Union, they are our strategic partners and we will certainly continue like this", declared Kreshnik Bekteshi, Minister of Economy.

With this decision, the price of oil derivatives will not increase, the chairman of the Energy Regulatory Commission, Marko Bislimovski, told Alsat. In Macedonia, there is a company that supplies oil and oil derivatives from a Russian refinery, but the amount it imports is small and will not cause a correction in the derivatives market in the country, assures Bislimovski.

"I don't expect that in the next period there will be serious implications regarding the price of oil, but we have to wait for that. What we know from yesterday, when it is the first day of the application of this measure, the day before there was a decrease in the price of oil on our or the Mediterranean stock exchange from which we extract the data", said Marko Bislimovski, chairman of the Regulatory Commission of Energy, reports Alsat.

The European Union, as a new sanction against Russia due to military aggression against Ukraine, decided to ban Russian oil and derivatives. According to information, 15 percent of diesel fuel consumption is provided by Russian refineries. The replacement for this fuel, Europe has already agreed with Kuwait, from where the quantity that until a few days ago came from the Russian Federation will be provided. In addition to oil, the import of Russian oil and extra light household oil is also prohibited.