Ukraine seeks answer on how the icon gifted by Dodik to Lavrov ended up in BiH

(Patria) - The diplomatic scandal that erupted after the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Dodik, gifted a 300-year-old icon to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is not subsiding.

It is suspected that the icon was taken out of Luhansk, a city in eastern Ukraine located in the territory controlled by pro-Russian forces since 2014, writes BBC in Serbian.

Dodik gifted the icon to Lavrov on December 14, during the Russian minister's visit to Bosnia.

Milorad Dodik's cabinet did not respond to BBC's questions in Serbian. According to media reports in BiH, Dodik gifted Lavrov an icon with a seal, which testifies to it being the property of Soviet Ukraine.

The Embassy of Ukraine in Bosnia and Herzegovina sent a note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BiH on December 16, asking how the icon ended up in BiH.

"Our diplomats will meet with their Bosnian colleagues in the coming days," said Oleg Nikolenko, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, for BBC in Ukrainian.

He added that the public will be informed about the outcome of the meeting.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs adds that diplomats learned about the gift from the media, thanks to photos of the seal that allegedly confirms its Ukrainian origin.

"We want an explanation of how the icon ended up in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first place, and how the decision was made to gift it to the Russian minister," Nikolenko concludes.

The note sent by the Ukrainian embassy to Bosnian diplomats states, among other things, that Luhansk is "in territory occupied by Russia," so any concealment of information about how the icon reached Bosnia could be interpreted as "support for Russia's aggressive policy towards Ukraine."

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bisera Turković, stated regarding the note that the prosecutor's office "has a serious basis to investigate how Dodik came into possession of stolen Ukrainian property."

This is not the first time Dodik has been at the center of a scandal with Ukrainian diplomats.

In March 2014, the Ukrainian embassy criticized Dodik for the support he expressed to Russia regarding the annexation of Crimea.