Hristijan Mickoski addresses water contamination rumors and Serbian diplomatic tensions

North Macedonian Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski has addressed two major political controversies. First, he issued a sharp response to Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić regarding claims about the Serbian Orthodox Church. Mickoski defended the Macedonian Orthodox Church as a pillar of national identity, dismissing Vučić’s comments as belonging to the “last century.”

Second, Mickoski addressed rumors regarding water contamination in Skopje, labeling the spread of such information a “hybrid attack” intended to create hysteria and social unrest. He noted that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has summoned over ten individuals for questioning. The Prime Minister suggested that opposition parties may be behind the disinformation, which also led to commercial panic as markets emptied their stocks of bottled water.

In contrast, the opposition party LSDM has accused the government of hiding data and failing to provide transparency regarding water quality. They highlighted incidents in Gostivar, where they claim residents were not warned about contaminated water, and noted that several other locations in the country have yet to publish water analysis results.