Where's the 'secret' White House Russia room? diplomat jokes

One of Moscow's top diplomats joked to President Donald Trump on Thursday after touring the White House that he was disappointed not to have seen the "secret" Russia room.

"Thank you for the tour of the White House," Vasily Nebenzya, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, told Trump at a lunch for the members of the UN Security Council.

"We saw the China room, but we didn't see the Russia room," Nebenzya said to laughter from around the table, adding that he wondered if such a room existed but was "top secret."

Nebenzya's quip followed remarks by China's UN ambassador, Zhang Jun, who thanked Trump for his hospitality, saying, "We have made a tour around this number of rooms: the green one, the red one and also the China room."

That got laughs from the US president and the group of diplomats.

The White House does have a China Room, but this refers to a collection of porcelain housed there, rather than the country.

China and Russia have never been far from Trump's agenda since he won the White House in 2016. He is embroiled in a trade war with Beijing and accused by numerous domestic critics of murky relations with the Kremlin.

© 2019 AFP