Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić’s renewed proposal to consider changing the course of the Iber River has been dismissed by Serbian publicist Zlatoje Martinov as an unrealistic and empty threat that would be extremely costly and technically difficult to implement.
Vučić recently said that Serbian authorities had already engaged experts, including engineers and construction specialists, to examine the possibility of altering the river’s course on Serbian territory. He also suggested that Belgrade would then see how Kosovo’s Albanians would respond.
“We have already called in experts who deal with this — the construction sector, engineers and everyone else,” Vučić said, arguing that Serbia had “various reasons” for changing the course of the Iber.
Martinov described the proposal as another reckless statement by Vučić that has little connection to reality.
“The fact that he declared that he would ‘change the course of the Iber River’ is pure absurdity, because such an infrastructure project is technically extremely complex and would cost Serbia several billion euros,” Martinov told Bota Sot.
He questioned why Serbia would take on such enormous financial obligations, particularly while Belgrade is already investing heavily in the EXPO 2027 project.
Martinov also argued that such an intervention would require international approval that Vučić would not be able to secure.
“Moving the riverbed of the Iber and ‘destroying Lake Gazivoda’ would require, apart from huge amounts of money and years of technical work, the approval of Europe and the international community,” he said.
According to Martinov, the proposal would have serious consequences not only for Kosovo but also for the Serb community in Kosovo, which Vučić frequently says he seeks to protect.
“In a state of helplessness and anger, people often make wrong moves. Such a statement by Vučić, intended as a threat to Kosovo, is in practice more laughable than frightening because it is difficult, almost impossible, to implement,” Martinov said, describing the idea as “Aleksandar Vučić’s daydreaming.”
The Iber River is strategically important for Kosovo because it is directly connected to the Gazivoda/Ujman water system and the Iber-Lepenc canal. Any major alteration of the river’s flow could have significant implications for Kosovo’s water supply and energy infrastructure, including the country’s major power plants, Kosovo A and Kosovo B.
Vučić has raised the possibility of altering the Iber’s course before. In 2024, following the attack on critical infrastructure at the Iber-Lepenc canal, for which Serbian actors have been accused, he said Serbia had a plan to divert the river on its territory.
The latest remarks have also drawn a response from the European Union.
The European Commission said that statements about potentially changing the course of the Iber River, as well as actions that do not contribute to the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, should be avoided.
“Progress in the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia can only be achieved through dialogue,” a European Commission spokesperson told Radio Free Europe on August 11.
“Statements, including those concerning possible changes to the course of the river, and actions that do not support this objective should be avoided,” the spokesperson added.
The controversy comes amid renewed tensions between Belgrade and Prishtina, with the Iber and the Gazivoda/Ujman system remaining among the most strategically sensitive issues in the relationship between the two sides.
