Eastern Europe Edition

Orban Scores a Timely Win With Serbian Refinery Deal

Staying close to Putin pays off as Gazprom agrees to sell to Hungary’s oil company. But the US has to approve it.
The oil and gas refinery operated by NIS beside the Danube in Novi Sad, Serbia.Photographer: Oliver Bunic/Bloomberg

Hi, this is Andrea Dudik in Prague. Welcome to our weekly newsletter on what’s shaping economics and investments from the Baltic Sea to the Balkans. You can subscribe here.

After months of US sanctions, halted fuel deliveries and uncertainty over the future of Serbia’s oil refinery, a deal is finally on the table — and it’s one, inevitably, with political as well as business implications.