The office of the Serbian member of the Presidium of BiH Milorad Dodik sent a request to the Ukrainian Embassy demanding clarification of the reasons why its representatives stirred up a scandal over the donated icon.
In particular, the Bosnian Serbs demanded to provide evidence that the image presented to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is the cultural heritage of Ukraine, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The administration of Milorad Dodik reported that, according to the Council of Ministers of BiH, the donated icon of St. Nicholas is not on the list of protected, lost or alienated cultural property of any country. Therefore, “taking into account the statement of the Ukrainian Embassy that the icon is part of the cultural heritage of Ukraine,” they ask that information confirming these statements be provided as soon as possible.
“The Ukrainian Embassy must present on what basis it bases its claims that this icon is part of the “Ukrainian cultural heritage,” as well as relevant evidence that will confirm this claim,” the appeal says. “The Embassy of Ukraine will provide all relevant information, which is based not on data from “Internet resources” and unreliable media publications, but on the basis of legally significant facts and evidence.”
The Administration’s note also states that “if the Ukrainian Embassy has evidence that this icon is part of the Ukrainian cultural, religious and historical heritage, the embassy must inform who and at what time this icon belonged, whether the icon was confiscated, who, when and where, and whether she is on any list of seized items that Ukraine is looking for.”
Let us recall that earlier the Russian Foreign Ministry, once again yielding to pressure from Ukraine, agreed return a 300-year-old icon from Lugansk donated by Milorad Dodik to Sergei Lavrov.