The centuries-old Orthodox icon that Chairman of Bosnia’s tripartite Presidency, Milorad Dodik, presented as a gift to Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, which caused controversies in the country and abroad, will be returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the following days, Bosnia’s ambassador in Moscow told N1.

The Orthodox icon that Dodik gave to the Russian diplomat appeared to be the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage, as claimed by that country’s embassy in Sarajevo, and has prompted the competent authorities to launch an investigation into its provenance.

As the media reported, Russia will return the icon to the donor and the investigation will be conducted with the assistance of Interpol.

“The donated icon will be returned through the embassy to the donor to undergo a necessary check. We have nothing to further comment here. I hope you understand. We are only doing our job. We neither got it nor we are authorised evaluator. It will be returned these days through diplomatic channels,” said ambassador Zeljko Samardzija.

Lavrov received the gilded icon during his two-day stay in Bosnia, on December 14.

On Thursday, the Cabinet of Bosnia’s Presidency Chairman asked the Embassy of Ukraine in the country to provide all relevant information supporting the claims regarding the icon.

“If the Embassy of Ukraine possess the evidence proving that this icon is a part of the Ukrainian cultural, religious and historic heritage, it should give the information about whom and at which moment the icon belonged to, if it was seized, from whom, when and where, and if it is on the list of missing items that Ukraine is looking for,” said Dodik’s cabinet in a note forwarded to the Embassy of Ukraine in Sarajevo.