(ANSA-AFP) - MOSCOW, DEC 19 - Moscow said on Saturday it
would return to Bosnia a centuries-old Ukrainian icon after
Ukraine complained about it being presented as a gift to Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. A representative of the Russian
foreign ministry told AFP that the gilded Christian Orthodox
icon -- believed to be 300 years old -- "will be returned" to
Bosnia so that its provenance can be established with the help
of Interpol. According to reports, Bosnia's Serb president
Milorad Dodik presented it to Russia's top diplomat Lavrov
during a recent visit. But the move riled Kiev, and the
Ukrainian embassy in Bosnia sent a note demanding an "urgent
explanation regarding the possession of their cultural
heritage," the government in Bosnia said. The artwork originates
from Lugansk, a region in eastern Ukraine held by Russia-backed
separatists. Ukraine has been fighting Russian-speaking
separatists in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions since 2014
following Moscow's annexation of the Crimean peninsula.
(ANSA-AFP).
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