Kosovo and Albania have called Vucic's threat to divert the Ibar destabilising and contrary to international conventions; the Serbian president says the river is an internal matter and none of Albania's business.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, and Belgrade still does not recognise it. Serbia's government presents itself as protector of Kosovo's Serb minority, while Pristina insists on full control of its territory, leaving both sides at odds over borders, minority rights and shared infrastructure.
Pristina and Tirana said a statement by Serbian President Vucic on the course of the Ibar river was destabilising and ran counter to international conventions, Koha reported. Vucic answered that the river was an internal Serbian matter and that he did not see what it had to do with Albania.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday that Belgrade could divert the Ibar river and leave the Gazivode plant without water, citing the treatment of Serbs, and called Europe's actions against Russia a hybrid war that has the continent on the brink of a larger conflict. Pristina removed the Ukrainian flag after Volodymyr Zelensky's remarks on Kosovo during his visit to Belgrade, and protesters in Tirana marched on the Serbian and Ukrainian embassies.