German airline Lufthansa has located the lost Oscar statuette belonging to Russian filmmaker Pasha Talankin, co-director of the award-winning documentary Mr. Nobody Against Putin, after New York airport security stopped him from boarding with it.

In a statement to BBC on Friday evening, the airline said the trophy had been located and would be returned to Talankin “as quickly as possible”.

“We can confirm that the Oscar statue has now been located and is safely in our care in Frankfurt. We are in direct contact with the guest to arrange its personal return as quickly as possible. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused and have apologised to the owner.”

The airline further stated it has launched an internal review into the circumstances, which is currently ongoing.

Mr. Nobody Against Putin won Best Feature Documentary at this year’s Academy Awards. As per reports, Talankin shared that at a security checkpoint at JFK Airport on Wednesday, an official stopped him from carrying the approximately 3.8 kg statuette on board.

“It’s completely baffling how they consider an Oscar a weapon… I flew with it in the cabin, and there never was any kind of problem,” Talankin said from Frankfurt, Germany, where he arrived on Thursday on a Lufthansa flight.

Talankin further informed that he had travelled with the Oscar over a dozen times since winning it in March, without facing any issues.

A Lufthansa agent offered to escort Talankin to the gate and hold the Oscar during the flight, but the security official declined. A suggestion to store it in the cockpit was also rejected by airport security and a Lufthansa supervisor.

Executive producer Robin Hessman, who speaks Russian, assisted with translation during the discussions with airport and airline staff. With no alternative, Talankin was instructed to check the statuette in as cargo.

Airline staff bubble-wrapped the Oscar and placed it in a cardboard box, which he recorded on his phone. However, upon arrival in Frankfurt, the box was missing.

“He called me this morning from Frankfurt saying Lufthansa doesn’t have it. They lost it,” Hessman had said.

According to the news portal, living Oscar winners can contact the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to request a replacement statuette in rare cases where the award is lost or badly damaged.

Talankin, a former grade school teacher from an industrial Russian town, has been living in exile after refusing a Kremlin directive to introduce a nationalistic and militaristic curriculum in Russian schools following the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Mr. Nobody Against Putin, directed by David Borenstein and co-directed by Talankin, follows his transformation from a well-regarded school staff member to an outcast.