Ukraine Embassy demands answers from Bosnia on Orthodox icon given to S. Lavrov

SRNA

Ukrainian Embassy to Bosnia asked the country's Foreign Ministry Thursday to provide detailed information on the origin of an Orthodox Icon belonging to Ukrainian Cultural Heritage, which BiH Serb Presidency member gave to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during his official visit to the country on Monday.

Speaking to N1, Bosnia’s Foreign Minister Bisera Turkovic said that they had received a diplomatic note from the Embassy of Ukraine asking for a statement on how the 300-year-old icon was in the possession of a BiH official, more precisely, the Chairman of BiH Presidency, Milorad Dodik.

She added that the note was forwarded to the tripartite Presidency whose members need to provide a statement regarding the issue.
“I see there are suggestions that the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), as well as the state Prosecution, should be engaged in this case,” Turkovic added.

SRNA

 The item in question is a 300-year-old gilded icon from Luhansk, Ukraine with a seal proving its originality, as shown in the photo published by the SRNA news agency.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov received the icon at the seat of the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska (RS) entity in Istocno Sarajevo during a meeting attended RS government officials, the President of that Bosnian entity Zeljka Cvijanovic and Milorad Dodik, BiH Presidency Chairman.