Obama receives «The Overload» button as a New Year gift
New Year gifts from Russia have arrived to the White House. A button with the word «Peregruzka» («The Overload») printed on it and a T-shirt with the Russian president Vladimir Putin, signed «Аста Лависта» (from «Hasta la vista» in Spanish) are among the presents. The gifts have been transferred to the presidential special services for a security check, the White House told the TV Channel Zvezda in a phone conversation.
Yesterday President Obama decided to expel 35 Russian diplomats.
In accordance with Obama Administration idea, the «Peregruzka» button was supposed to become a symbol of reset in Russian-U.S. bilateral relations. On March, the 6th, 2009, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met in Geneva, in InterContinental hotel, where Clinton gave her counterpart the symbolic button. There was the word «Reset» in English printed on the button, but the Russian version was misspelled, and instead of «Perezagruzka» («Reset») it said «Peregruzka» («Overload»). Lavrov explained the mistake to Americans, but preferred to comfort his embarrassed counterparts and proposed not to change the inscription.
«The Overload» button has been delivered to President Obama, whose mandate expires on January, the 20th, as far as he is the key ideologist of «overloading» the Russian-U.S. relations. These days the US President enjoys his eighth and final vacation in Hawaii. The President Administration didn’t comment on the gift.
