Serbian parliament fails to vote on ratification of gas deal with Russia

BELGRADE, July 17 (RIA Novosti) - The Serbian parliament failed to vote on the ratification of a number of important international agreements, including an energy agreement with Russia, on Thursday.

Parliament is expected to vote on the South Stream project with Russia, the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU, and a resolution on Kosovo on Friday.

MPs were unable to vote on the above issues due to a series of lengthy debates and discussions.

Russia and Serbia signed an agreement on January 25 as part of the South Stream project to construct a pipeline for the transit of Russian natural gas through Serbia to the Balkans and on to other European countries.

The $14 bln South Stream pipeline is expected to annually pump 30 billion cubic meters of Central Asian gas to southern Europe. Serbia and Hungary joined the project, already involving Italy and Bulgaria, earlier this year. Greece announced plans to join South Stream last summer.