The 300-year-old icon, which was donated by Russian Foreign Minister Milorad Dodik to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov a few days ago, will be returned, the Russian news agency Tass reported, citing the Russian Foreign Ministry.
"The icon will be returned to the donor in order to further clarify its history through Interpol," it was stated, the Russian agency reported.
During his visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina this week, Dodik presented Lavrov with a 300-year-old icon from Lugansk, Ukraine.
On the back of the icon is a seal with the inscription: "USSR. People's Committee for Education. Ukrnauka. Odessa Regional Commission ”.
The Prosecutor's Office of BiH has formed a case
Dodik's move caused a diplomatic scandal that attracted the attention of many world media.
After the news was published, the Embassy of Ukraine in BiH reacted, asking the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BiH to explain the origin of the icon, stating that it belongs to the cultural heritage of Ukraine.
The Embassy of Ukraine stated that it “considers that the failure to provide public immediate and unequivocal refutation by the top leadership of Bosnia and Herzegovina of information related to the said gift, possession or transfer in any way of cultural, historical or religious valuables originating in Ukraine temporarily under the occupation of the Russian Federation, will signify support for the aggressive policy and military actions of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which has already resulted in the deaths of many thousands of Ukrainian citizens, the top leadership of Bosnia and Herzegovina ”.
The Prosecutor's Office of BiH has formed a case on that, wanting to determine whether Dodik's gift to Lavrov was previously illegally smuggled from war-torn Ukraine.
