Vučić Opposes Change in KFOR Presence at the Iber Bridge, Ramabaja: A Symbol of the Status Quo Is Losing Strategic Significance

The gradual transition from KFOR’s permanent presence on the Iber Bridge in Mitrovica has caused concern for Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.

During an interview given on Friday to a Serbian media outlet, Vučić spoke about the bridge over the Iber River and revealed that regarding its opening, he had written to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

“I believe Rutte wants to guarantee security for all people in the Balkans and, accordingly, I myself requested respect for the rights of Serbs and implementation of the Brussels agreements. Had the Association of Serb-majority municipalities been established, none of this would have happened. The Iber Bridge was part of the dialogue, and now they want to remove it because it bothers them that a Serb does not want to recognize the so-called Kosovo. It is unbelievable that someone would think that sovereign Serbia would give up a part of its territory; it was important that I also use my personal integrity to warn Rutte about what is happening,” Vučić declared.

The Serbian president described Rutte as an intelligent person, who, according to him, has more information than anyone else.

“He is smart enough that when everyone pushes him into conflict with Trump, he won’t enter into conflict. I believe he will act rationally now as well,” Vučić said.

Professor Sadri Ramabaja assesses that the statement of the Serbian president clearly reflects the political and spiritual state of Belgrade in the face of recent developments in northern Kosovo.

According to Ramabaja, Vučić’s reaction shows that the Iber Bridge has not been considered by Belgrade merely as an infrastructural work or an ordinary security issue. He sees it as a political element for preserving the status quo and as one of the symbols of contested sovereignty in the north.

“The Iber Bridge and the end of a strategic illusion! From Vučić’s statement to the failure of the project to partition Kosovo,” Ramabaja says.

“The bridge over the Iber River was part of the dialogue, now they want to remove it.”

“This statement by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić speaks more than many other statements about the spiritual and political state of Belgrade in the face of recent developments in northern Kosovo. In fact, it is clear evidence that the bridge over the Iber has not been seen by Belgrade simply as an infrastructure object or a technical security issue. It has been treated as a political asset of the status quo and, consequently, as one of the symbols of the contested space of sovereignty in the north,” Ramabaja tells “Bota Sot.”

He emphasizes that the gradual change of KFOR’s permanent presence should be analyzed as part of a broader reorganization of the political and strategic reality in northern Kosovo.

“Therefore, the warning about the gradual withdrawal of KFOR’s permanent presence from the bridge and the transfer of security responsibility to the Kosovo Police cannot be interpreted solely in operational terms. It should be seen in the context of a deeper transformation of the political and strategic reality in the north.

For about 27 years, the bridge over the Iber has been one of the most powerful symbols of Mitrovica’s division. On the physical level, it separated two parts of the city; on the political level, it embodied a much deeper dividing line: the boundary between an institutional order that the Republic of Kosovo aimed to extend throughout its territory and a parallel reality that Belgrade had nurtured, financed, and politically supported.

In this sense, the bridge was much more than a bridge. It was the symbol of a status quo. And the status quo, for Belgrade, was not neutrality. It was a strategic opportunity,” the professor emphasizes.

On August 10, the NATO mission in Kosovo, KFOR, announced that it had begun the gradual transition of its permanent presence on the Iber Bridge in Mitrovica. According to KFOR, this process is taking place due to the improvement of the security situation in Kosovo and is part of the gradual reduction of the mission’s presence.