American and Russian leaders once arrived at Cold War summits ready to swap fierce rhetorical grillings.
But when presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev met today, the grilling was of a purely culinary kind, as they dodged superpower protocol to slip out to one of the US leader’s favourite burger joints.
Symbolising warmed US-Russia ties, Obama and Medvedev travelled in the same presidential limousine from the White House to the Washington suburb of Arlington, Virginia, for lunch at “Ray’s Hell-Burger.”
The informal jaunt was squeezed in between an Oval Office meeting and a joint press conference back at the White House.
After surprising lunchtime patrons, Obama and Medvedev chatted to staff and ordered at the counter of the restaurant, which has won rave reviews for the quality of its 10-ounce steakhouse-style burgers.