There is no doubt that the Orthodox icon which the Chairman of Bosnia’s tripartite Presidency gave to Russia’s Foreign Affairs Minister is the property of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Ambassador in Serbia, Oleksandr Aleksandrovych, told N1, adding that the artefact was most likely illegally taken from his country.
After Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of BiH’s Presidency, gave Russia’s Sergey Lavrov the 300-year-old gilded icon last week, the Ukrainian Embassy in Sarajevo sent a note to the BiH Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking for detailed information on the origin of what it suspects is a piece of Ukrainian cultural heritage.
RELATED NEWS
Bosnia’s Prosecutor’s Office has meanwhile launched an investigation into the matter, and Russia returned the icon via Bosnia’s Embassy there until the matter is resolved. The icon is expected to arrive in BiH in the coming days.
Aleksandrovych noted that Ukraine and BiH are members of the UN Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property and must act in accordance with it.
“We asked for answers about the icon, how they got that icon. There is no doubt that it belongs to Ukraine, but we are waiting for a response from the Bosnian government,” Aleksandrovych added.
Dodik’s advisor, Radovan Kovacevic, said on Thursday that the icon was the property of a local family in the city of Banja Luka.
“If it is the family property and was gifted, then that’s fine, but this is something we must hear from them,” he said, adding that he was informed by the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine that the icon was not on any of its lists of export permits.
“This means that it was transferred outside Ukraine in an illegal manner. But we are not making accusations, we are waiting for an official response from the Bosnian side,” the ambassador said.
If there is no controversy regarding the origin of the icon, “then why have we not heard anything officially from the BiH side?” he asked.
“We know that one territory of Ukraine is under the occupation of the Russian army, and we know, unfortunately, that the citizens of Serbia, but also BiH, are fighting in the east against the Ukrainian army. I can assume that one of those people brought out the icon, but I don't have accurate information on it,” he said.
