BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Hungary's MOL Group energy company said on Monday they have signed a preliminary agreement to buy a 56.15% stake in Serbia's Russia-owned main oil supplier that has been sanctioned by the United States.
MOL Group said in a statement that a “binding Heads of Agreement with Gazprom Neft" will need the approval of the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control before it can be completed. The parties aim to sign the sales and purchase agreement by March 31, the statement said.
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A raven flies over the Gazprom company logo at a petrol station in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
The Gazprom company logo at a petrol station and a traffic sign are seen in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A raven stands on a petrol station roof in front of the NIS "Naftna industrija Srbije" (Petroleum Industry of Serbia) company logo on an office building in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A raven flies between the NIS "Naftna industrija Srbije" (Petroleum Industry of Serbia) on an office building and the Gazprom company logo at a petrol station in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A view of Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS) oil refinery in Pancevo, Serbia, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Naftna Industrija Srbije, or NIS, almost entirely controls Serbia's oil market and operates the Balkan country's only oil refinery. MOL Group said the purchase would further strengthen the Hungarian company's presence in the regional energy market.
“As a reliable regional energy provider, we would like to contribute to the development of Central and Southeastern Europe," said Zsolt Hernadi, Chairman and CEO of MOL Group.
Hernadi said that MOL Group and ADNOC, the national oil company of the United Arab Emirates, are also in negotiations for ADNOC to possibly join as a minority shareholder.
Serbia's Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said Monday that the expected agreement would also increase Serbia's stake in NIS by 5% from the 29.87% it now owns.
Washington imposed sanctions on NIS as part of a crackdown on Russia’s energy sector last year and the sanctions went into effect in October. NIS has a license from OFAC to negotiate the sale by March 24.
Serbia is formally seeking European Union membership but the country has maintained strong ties with Moscow and refused to join Western sanctions imposed on Russia because of the invasion on Ukraine.
Serbia sold the majority stake in NIS to Russia in 2008.
A raven flies over the Gazprom company logo at a petrol station in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
The Gazprom company logo at a petrol station and a traffic sign are seen in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A raven stands on a petrol station roof in front of the NIS "Naftna industrija Srbije" (Petroleum Industry of Serbia) company logo on an office building in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A raven flies between the NIS "Naftna industrija Srbije" (Petroleum Industry of Serbia) on an office building and the Gazprom company logo at a petrol station in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A view of Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS) oil refinery in Pancevo, Serbia, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
U.S. President Donald Trump linked his aggressive stance on Greenland to last year’s decision not to award him the Nobel Peace Prize, telling Norway’s prime minister that he no longer felt “an obligation to think purely of Peace,” in a text message released on Monday.
Trump's message to Jonas Gahr Støre appears to ratchet up a standoff between Washington and its closest allies over his threats to take over Greenland, a self-governing territory of NATO member Denmark. On Saturday, Trump announced a 10% import tax starting in February on goods from eight nations that have rallied around Denmark and Greenland, including Norway.
Those countries issued a forceful rebuke.
Many longtime allies of the U.S. remained resolute that Greenland was not for sale but encouraged Washington to discuss solutions. In a statement on social media, the European Union's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc had “no interest to pick a fight” but would “hold our ground.”
The White House has not ruled taking control of the strategic Arctic island by force. Asked whether Trump could invade Greenland, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said on Monday that “you can’t leave anything out until the president himself has decided to leave anything out.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also sought to de-escalate tensions on Monday. "I think this can be resolved and should be resolved through calm discussion,” he said, adding that he did not believe military action would occur.
In a sign of how tensions have increased in recent days, thousands of Greenlanders marched over the weekend in protest of any effort to take over their island. Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a Facebook post Monday that the tariff threats would not change their stance.
“We will not be pressured,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister for business, minerals, energy, justice and equality, told The Associated Press that she was moved by the quick response of allies to the tariff threat and said it showed that countries realize “this is about more than Greenland.”
“I think a lot of countries are afraid that if they let Greenland go, what would be next?”
Trump’s Sunday message to Gahr Støre, released by the Norwegian government, read in part: “Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.”
It concluded: “The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.”
The Norwegian leader said Trump’s message was a reply to an earlier missive sent on behalf of himself and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, in which they conveyed their opposition to the tariff announcement, pointed to a need to de-escalate, and proposed a telephone conversation among the three leaders.
“Norway’s position on Greenland is clear. Greenland is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Norway fully supports the Kingdom of Denmark on this matter,” the Norwegian leader said in a statement. “As regards the Nobel Peace Prize, I have clearly explained, including to President Trump what is well known, the prize is awarded by an independent Nobel Committee and not the Norwegian Government.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee is an independent body whose five members are appointed by the Norwegian Parliament.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the president’s approach in Greenland during a brief Q&A with reporters in Davos, Switzerland, which is hosting the World Economic Forum meeting this week.
“I think it’s a complete canard that the president would be doing this because of the Nobel,” Bessent said, immediately after saying he did not “know anything about the president’s letter to Norway.”
Bessent insisted Trump “is looking at Greenland as a strategic asset for the United States,” adding that “we are not going to outsource our hemispheric security to anyone else.”
Trump has openly coveted the peace prize, which the committee awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado last year. Last week, Machado presented her Nobel medal to Trump, who said he planned to keep it, though the committee said the prize can’t be revoked, transferred or shared with others.
In his latest threat of tariffs, Trump indicated they would be retaliation for last week’s deployment of symbolic numbers of troops from the European countries to Greenland — though he also suggested that he was using the tariffs as leverage to negotiate with Denmark.
European governments said that the troops traveled to the island to assess Arctic security, part of a response to Trump’s own concerns about interference from Russia and China.
Six of the eight countries targeted are part of the 27-member European Union, which operates as a single economic zone in terms of trade. European Council President António Costa said Sunday that the bloc’s leaders expressed “readiness to defend ourselves against any form of coercion.” He announced a summit for Thursday evening.
Associated Press writers Josh Boak in West Palm Beach, Florida; Emma Burrows in Nuuk, Greenland; Molly Quell in The Hague and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen speaks during a protest against Trump's policy towards Greenland in front of the US consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A military vessel HDMS Knud Rasmussen of the Royal Danish Navy docked in Nuuk, Greenland, on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, center, walks with Minister for Foreign Affairs and Research of Greenland Vivian Motzfeldt, left, and Denmark's Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, right, prior to a meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
FILE - President Donald Trump and Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store shake hands during the group photo at the Gaza International Peace Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, Oct.13 2025. (Yoan Valat, Pool photo via AP, File)
The Danish navy's inspection ship HDMS Vaedderen sails off Nuuk, Greenland, on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Danish soldiers disembark at the harbor in Nuuk, Greenland, on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Danish soldiers disembark at the harbor in Nuuk, Greenland, on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
