Head of Ukrainian Diplomacy Kuleba: We continue to demand the return of the icon

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba spoke out today following yesterday's statements by the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik regarding the icon that he gifted to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov on December 14, 2020.

"The Ukrainian icon burned the hands of even experienced cynical Russian diplomats who disowned it. But Mr. Dodik continues to lie, surpassing his older friends. Ukraine continues to demand the return of the icon," the Ukrainian minister stated on Twitter.

The Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Dodik, left the hospital yesterday and held a press conference. He also spoke for the first time about the icon, accusing media from the FBiH of inventing the scandal.

"Ukraine never raised the issue of the disappearance of that icon. It is a family icon. To this day, the authorities have not requested that icon. The fact that you received an editorial assignment to invent a story is your problem. The ambassador said 'based on media reports', what media reports? The icon is here, Mr. Lavrov considered that it should be returned. I will now call the people who gave me that icon and return it publicly. There is nothing incriminating here, but you are inventing lies to cover up the moves of Komšić and Džaferović," Dodik stated.

The icon that the Chairman of the BiH Presidency Milorad Dodik gifted to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov was returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina by Željko Samardžija, BiH Ambassador to the Russian Federation. He handed the icon over to Milorad Dodik's office.

In a note that the BiH Embassy in Moscow received from the Russian Federation, Samardžija says, the donor is asked to conduct checks on the origin of the icon through official agencies, primarily Interpol.

The Embassy of Ukraine in BiH requested information from the BiH Ministry of Foreign Affairs on how the icon entered BiH.

On December 18, the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina formed a case to conduct checks "regarding the icon of Saint Nicholas that Milorad Dodik, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, gifted to Minister Sergey Lavrov", but to date, they have not requested checks through Interpol.