Although Obama received enthusiastic applause from his audience in Prague when he announced his intention to destroy the US's nuclear arsenal, drastically scale back its missile defense programs and forge a new alliance with Russia, his words were anything but music to the ears of the leaders of former Soviet satellites threatened by Russia.
The international scare was triggered when he flew with his wife via Prague to Montreal on 24 May, despite being contacted in Rome by US health officials, who told him to go into isolation or pay for an air ambulance home.