The Interpol said no one is looking for the St. Nicholas icon just like no one sought after it on the day Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov came to Istocno Sarajevo, Bosnian Serb Presidency member Milorad Dodik said Thursday in Belgrade, commenting on the controversial Ukrainian icon he presented to Lavrov in December 2020.
“Three days ago, Ukrainian Ambassador Vasyl Kyrylych was in BiH, saying that they had no evidence that the icon was Ukrainian and that it had never been part of the cultural heritage, but they were hurt that it was given to the Russians,” Dodik said.
“You have a situation where Bosnia’s Foreign Minister (Bisera Turkovic) insists on this, and in every other country, all authorities would protect from this type of story, and even if it is a mistake, they would apologize to another country.”
He asked why is there an investigation if no one is looking for the icon.
What is the guilt here, who are you chase and what do you want? The Interpol said, and we have that paper, that the icon was not sought after on the day of Lavrov's arrival, just like no one is looking for it now,” Dodik added.
After Dodik gave Russia’s Sergey Lavrov the 300-year-old gilded icon in December, 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. Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture said the icon could have been illegally taken from the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Luhansk by mercenaries.
Bosnia’s Prosecutor’s Office has meanwhile launched an investigation into the matter.
By the end of the month, the icon was returned to Bosnia via the Bosnian ambassador in Moscow, per Russia’s request.
He stated that there are over 30 lawsuits against him in the Prosecutor's Office.
“Whatever you say, someone from the Federation of BiH entity will file a lawsuit immediately. The other day I received a notification the investigation about something I once said in Gacko had stopped. The application was then filed by Transparency International, which is an international organization. Who is this organization to decide about our lives? Unfortunately, we live in such a country,” said Dodik.
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