It may only have been a cartoon, but a two-and-a-half-minute segment broadcast on state television on Friday gently mocking Russia's ruling pair was greeted with surprise by Russians used to stern-faced messages from their leaders.
For those of us who follow political developments here, what is most surprising - if not shocking - about this very tame piece of satire is that it appeared on the biggest state-controlled channel.
It speaks volumes about how effectively the broadcast media has been muzzled since Vladimir Putin rose to power 10 years ago.
In the previous decade, under ex-President Boris Yeltsin, there was a brief renaissance when the media was free to publish or broadcast bitingly-critical items about the country's leaders.
But those days are long gone, particularly for the main TV and radio stations which have the greatest influence over the population given their nationwide reach.
Channel One leads the way as a mouthpiece for the government, with its bulletins filled with long-winded Soviet-style reports about the day-to day activities of Prime Minister Putin and President Medvedev.
So this cartoon does represent something new in the current, carefully-controlled political environment.
