Moscow (AP) – Russia said on Saturday it would return an Orthodox icon presented to Russia’s foreign minister in Bosnia, a gift that sparked a protest from Ukraine.
Milorad Dodik, the Serbian president of Bosnia’s three-member presidency, gave the icon to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov when he visited Sarajevo earlier this week. The icon, which was said to be 300 years old, is believed to have come from eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed rebels fought Ukrainian troops in a six-year conflict.
The Ukrainian embassy in Sarajevo called for information on how the Bosnian Serb leader came to possess the icon, noting that the failure to provide information would mean that Bosnia supports Russia’s “aggressive policy and military actions” in eastern Ukraine. Dozens of Serbs fought alongside pro-Russian rebels in the 2014 conflict.
On Saturday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the icon would be returned to Bosnia pending an Interpol investigation to clarify its origins.