It comes as no surprise that Russia’s defense of Serbia has a price tag.
Pay off the Russians or allow NATO to support the Muslims rape of Kosovo.
Hell of a choice Clinton’s true master has given the Christian Serbs.
However, NIS is probably the most important asset Serbia has, or will ever have. I'm no economist but if the NIS is worth $2.9 billion (as per Finance Minister Dinkich) and has a fantastic potential for expanding and thus increasing its market value and making both the state/taxpayers and citizen-shareholders richer, then the Russian offer ought to be rejected out of hand. There's a plan to give each and every Serbian citizen (18 and over) a stake in the company, which would amount to 1000+ euros per citizen (NIS employees would average about 4,000 euros in windfall).
On the other hand, the West has had plenty of chances of striking similar deals with Belgrade (see U.S. Steel-Sartid for a rare example). They chose the path of aggression, bullying and sabre-rattling (not to mention stealing 15% of Serbia's sovereign territory for the benefit of an irredentist minority with ties to Al-Qaida!).
The EUrocrats are the worst. They're berating Serbia over its close ties with Russia, while simultaneously kissing the Kremlin's ass over energy supplies.