About two-thirds of the way into Vladimir Putin's annual state-of-the-nation address this month, the president suddenly stopped, looked up and asked: 'And now, the most important thing. What is most important?'
A voice from the hall, apparently that of Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov, shouted 'Love!' Mr Putin smiled, nodded and remarked that 'at the Defence Ministry, they understand what's really important'. He then launched into a detailed plan for improving the lot of Russian families and stimulating the birth rate.
That odd bit of political theatre may have been the starting gun for a race between Kremlin insiders to win the mantle of Mr Putin's heir apparent, a contest that seems likely to grow in ferocity and dominate Russian politics in the long months leading to the May 2008 constitutional deadline for the incumbent to leave office.
Mr Putin insists he will obey the law restricting a Russian leader to two consecutive terms. He has pledged to groom a successor, and in his national address, firmly thrust Mr Ivanov and Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev into the running.
'I have certain ideas about how to construct the situation in the country in this period of time, so as not to destabilise it, not to scare people and business,' Mr Putin said last week. 'Everyone values the situation we have today - a calm, steady, stable situation.'
His successor would be someone committed to carrying on the course he has set since being vaulted into his position with a nod from former president Boris Yeltsin more than six years ago.