An emoji could have soured international relations between two major countries.

It comes after the Australian foreign minister used an angry red faced emoji to describe Russian leader Vladimir Putin during an interview with Buzzfeed.

It's one of the first ever political interviews conducted entirely though emoticons.

It caused a stir as an Australian opposition Senator demanded to know what it meant - whether the angry red face meant she was angry with him, if it was a reference to Communism or if she just thought Putin was an angry, red faced man.