MOSCOW, June 30 Moscow is sorting out information about the delivery of icons from Ukraine to the Louvre, from which icon painting began, said during an online briefing Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“In particular, we are dealing with the news that appeared just yesterday that several icons were delivered to the Louvre, from which icon painting began, without further explaining who created these icons and where they were. in response to a question from journalists, they confirmed it, but in response to a clarifying question, what kind of icons, where, they said that it was a secret, as well as a secret and how long they would stay in the Louvre,» the minister told reporters. «Here, come on, there are a lot of journalists here, try French museum workers on this topic,» the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry suggested.
Earlier, Sandra Bialystok, a spokeswoman for the Geneva-based International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Zones (ALIPH), said that Orthodox icons from the Khanenko National Museum of Art in Kiev, which, after being evacuated, are exhibited in the Louvre in Paris, will return to Ukraine as soon as this will be possible. She believes that the embezzlement allegations are unfounded.
Earlier, the SVR, citing the director of the service, Sergei Naryshkin, said that there is no doubt that the return of Orthodox relics is not included in the plans of the West and the Kiev junta subject to it, and that the export was organized through the intermediary of the acting in coordination with UNESCO Swiss NGO «International Alliance for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in Conflict Zones».