A corpse on a bloodstained bridge, with the Kremlin's red stars glowing behind: the perfect symbolic backdrop, Russian media say, for the West to step up a campaign to vilify President Vladimir Putin.
Faced with a wave of revulsion around the world at the assassination of leading opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, the loyal media establishment is on the counter-attack, preparing Russians for a malicious propaganda campaign by a hostile West.
"And they say that's how the 'bloody regime' kills its competitors. The world is outraged and indignant. And then - sanctions, credit downgrades and the further demonization of Russia and its leader," Dmitry Kiselyov, a TV anchor reputed to be one of Putin favorite journalists, told his prime-time audience on Sunday evening.
"At a time when there is grief, to engage in polemics is disgusting."
With the gunning-down of Nemtsov in central Moscow late on Friday, Russia enters a new phase of the 'us or them' tug-of-war that has played out in the media, increasingly pliant to Putin, since Ukrainians took to the streets and overthrew their Moscow-leaning president just over a year ago.
Russia accused the West of backing 'a coup d'etat' in Ukraine. Now those who support the West or Ukraine are called traitors or a 'fifth column', a term Putin used a year ago to suggest the presence of internal enemies ready to help stir up discontent.