Recently, Indonesian leader Prabowo Subianto thought he was having a confidential discussion with American leader Donald Trump during Middle East peace talks in Egypt.
Instead, a hot-mic incident revealed Prabowo requesting Trump to organize a call with his son Don Jr, both of whom hold positions at the family business.
It represented only one in a string of gaffes made by international figures when they assume they're off the record.
Below are several additional noteworthy blunders:
During a defense ceremony in Beijing this September, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin were recorded talking about organ replacement as a method for extending lifespan.
"Human organs can be repeatedly replaced. The more you extend your life, the younger you become, and you can even achieve immortality," Putin's interpreter was recorded stating.
Xi, who was not visible, responded in Chinese: "Some predict that in this century people may live to 150 years old."
A conversation heard between China's leader Xi Jinping and Moscow's head Vladimir Putin
Ex-Australia border protection chief Peter Dutton faced criticism in 2015 when he joked about the situation of residents in the Pacific experiencing ocean encroachment.
Dutton was speaking to former PM Tony Abbott, who had just returned from environmental talks with Pacific Island leaders in Port Moresby.
Observing how a meeting about refugees was running on "Cape York time", Abbott responded: "We had a bit of that up in Port Moresby."
Dutton commented: "Schedules become irrelevant when you're about to have the ocean reaching your home."
The comments sparked outrage from Pacific Islands and climate activists, while the opposition Labor party demanded Dutton to issue an apology.
Peter Dutton recorded making jokes with Tony Abbott about coastal flooding
As Labour prime minister Gordon Brown was on the trail in 2010, he faced a voter who questioned him on migration and the economic situation.
Still wired up to a Sky news microphone when he entered the car, Brown was heard saying: "That was a disaster – they should not have placed me with that woman. Who thought of that? Absurd."
When questioned about she had said, he answered: "All topics, she was just a bigoted woman."
This incident received extensive coverage for an extended period and Brown went on to lose the political race.
Former US president Barack Obama was in discussion at the international conference in Cannes in 2011 with France's leader Nicolas Sarkozy when their comments about Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu were picked up by a live microphone.
Sarkozy said: "I can't stand Netanyahu. He's a liar."
Per a account from a French interpreter cited by Reuters, Obama replied: "You've had enough but I have to deal with him frequently than you."
A vintage recording incident from former White House hopeful George W. Bush happened as he made a negative comment about a reporter from The New York Times.
The GOP candidate was unaware that a recording device was active when he turned to Dick Cheney at a Labor Day rally and said, "There's Adam Clymer, major league asshole from the New York Times."
Cheney answered: "Oh yeah, that's true, definitely."
Bush at a political gathering in 2000
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