Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Saturday that Belgrade will avoid aligning itself with Western sanctions against Russia as long as it can and will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to sign a new gas supply agreement.

” Our duty is to fight for our country, to stick to the decisions written by the National Security Council, as much as we can and as long as we can,” Vucic told TV Pink, as reported by the Bosnian television channel RTVBN.

Likewise, the president has explained that he hopes to talk next week about gas supply with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

Serbia voted last month at the UN Human Rights Council to suspend Russia from the group over its invasion of Ukraine. In return, the European Union exempted Serbia from its sanctions on Russian oil and gas imports.

In this sense, Vucic has assured that Serbia’s economy is totally dependent on Russian gas, and Belgrade hopes to negotiate “a good price” during the next talks with Moscow.

The Serbian president expects the future price of Russian gas to be between 450 and 619 dollars (between 426 and 586 euros) per 1,000 cubic meters. The current gas deal between Russia and Serbia expires on May 31.