Relations between the U.S. and Russia are cold, but are they fattening and frozen?
Amid anti-American sentiment rising in Russia, a company there has debuted a chocolate-covered ice cream bar called the “Little Obama,” Reuters reported.
The product, labeled “Obamka” in Russian, comes in packaging with an illustration of a smiling dark-skinned boy with a pierced ear.
The Russian media outlet RT notes that the “ka” suffix in Russian often expresses affection, though it can also indicate “scorn.”
The company behind the bar, Slavitsa, said in a statement that the product was part of series symbolizing “the main races of people on our planet.”
“For those with a rich imagination, various associations might arise, but this is a product for children and is a long way from politics,” the company said, per Reuters.
The ostensibly non-political ice cream that bears Obama’s name comes after years of chilly relations between the two nations, with Russian media often depicting the U.S. president in ways deemed critical at best and racist at worst.
The Russian company is headquartered in Krasnoyarsk, a Siberian City that also plays home to a pro-Kremlin café dedicated to Vladimir Putin – complete with toilet paper bearing Obama’s face, Reuters noted.
[h/t Reuters]
