A high-level diplomatic meeting in Beijing risked turning into a comedy after the bodyguards of Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un clashed - not over politics, but over the air conditioning.
According to reports, tensions began when a North Korean bodyguard raised the air conditioning temperature to 23°C.
A Russian bodyguard, significantly less tolerant of heat, immediately lowered it back to 20°C.
What followed was an unusual and silent confrontation.
Witnesses say the two men got into a "fight" over the air conditioner remote, ripping each other's fingers off the buttons - a scene that resembled a family feud more than a geopolitical summit.
In the end, the Russian guard reportedly managed to forcibly grab the remote control, restoring the preferred lower temperature.
The incident, however minor, provided a rare insight into the rigid theater of authoritarian diplomacy, where even the climate of the room can become a matter of national prestige.