Obama, family visit spy museum

2010-07-31 10:01

Washington - US President Barack Obama, accompanied by the first lady and their daughter Sasha, visited a local spy museum late on Friday, touring the exhibit showcasing the most high-profile spy cases in history.

Several hundred onlookers watched as the president, wearing a casual shirt, jeans and sandals, went with his family into the museum without making any comment.

The International Spy Museum is the first and only public museum in the United States solely dedicated to espionage and its history around the world.

The visit comes after 10 Russian agents were arrested in an FBI swoop that initially threatened to derail a recent warming in Russia-US relations championed by Vladimir Putin's successor in the Kremlin, President Dmitry Medvedev.

The spies, many of whom had been working for years undercover in the United States as sleeper agents, returned to Russia earlier this month in a sensational spy swap that saw Moscow send four Russian convicts to the West.

- AFP