The ‘Orthodox icon’ case is marking the beginning of the end of the career of Serb member of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s tripartite Presidency Milorad Dodik, analysts claim, referring to the gift that Dodik recently presented to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, which caused controversies in the country and abroad.
This case unveils the unprofessional behaviour narrowed to ignorance and improvisation, international relations expert and former BiH ambassador to France and Egypt Slobodan Soja told Deutsche Welle.
“It is not a problem that Dodik presented to Sergey Lavrov an icon as a gift but why he did not present one of ours, an Orthodox icon from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Even if he had no one smart to tell him so, he should not have boasted in media about what he is giving. But it was apparently the most important to Dodik,” said Soja.
The Orthodox icon that Dodik gave to the Russian diplomat appeared to be the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage, as claimed by that country’s embassy in Sarajevo, and has prompted the competent authorities to launch an investigation into its provenance.
As the media reported, Russia will return the icon to the donor and the investigation will be conducted with the assistance of Interpol.
Dodik’s cabinet declared on the issue more than a week later after the Russian FM paid a visit to Bosnia, denying all accusations at the Serb Presidency member’s expense.
“Countless fabrications and untruths were told after a wrong initial media presentation stating that the icon is a natural treasure and part of cultural heritage, as never seen before. This is proven by the fact that even seven days after it was presented there is still no confirmation that the icon is on any list of missing icons, neither is it sought after nor is it part of anyone's cultural heritage. Despite all this, the spreading of untruths continues,” said Dodik’s cabinet.
But, the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture claims the opposite.
Alya Shandrova of the Euromaidan Press told N1 earlier this week that the ministry analysed the icon and established that icon was registered as the national treasury and that it belonged to the Government of Ukraine.
Experts say that everything about this case was wrong. From the choice of the gift to Dodik’s silence, the Ukrainian Embassy’s reaction to exaggerated media attention.
According to Soja, the clarification of Dodik’s cabinet was “incomplete and clumsy.”
“Instead of removing them it only opens new suspicions. We did not find out the most important part: whose is the icon and in which way, when and where it was obtained? Does it have a certificate and everything that has to be known about an icon,” he stressed.
As for Ukraine’s reaction, Soja explains that the reaction was sent righteously but that it contained “aggressive” tone.
By returning the gift to its donor, he argued, Lavrov sent a “hidden diplomatic note.”
“He returned the gift and that was the only right thing in the whole affair. Lavrov did not do it immediately but he did not wait for too long either. He probably asked personally for the case to be investigated and waited for results. He certainly got an answer from Dodik that we didn’t get. The return of the gift also contains Lavrov’s hidden diplomatic message. It can be read at different levels but it is all narrowed down to a great disappointment, not only because of the gift itself but for everything he experienced. We will probably never see him again in BiH, and that would be more of damage for us than for Russia,” he concluded.
Journalist Slobodan Vaskovic claims that this has marked the beginning of Russia’s removal of Dodik from the political stage.
“Russia no longer needs him and they decided to remove him in an elegant way,” he added.
