The adventures of a pesky little girl who befriends a bear and other animals in the style of Tiny Toon’s Elmyra has been enjoyed by children and parents worldwide. The Russian-made cartoon landed on Netflix and its Russian and English-language YouTube channels jointly have over 21 million subscribers.

What can be sinister there? “Children’s show is propaganda for Putin, say critics” – reads the headline on the Saturday edition of The Times.

The UK journalists have dug up the last year’s report from Finland’s paper, Helsingin Sanomat, which was based on an interview with an Estonian professor, claiming that ‘Masha and the Bear’ were intended to create a positive image of Russia in children’s minds and was a danger to Estonian national security.

The Times said that similar concerns were expressed in neighboring Baltic country of Lithuania and cited the University of Buckingham Professor, Anthony Glees, who believes that: “Masha is feisty, even rather nasty, but also plucky. She punches above her slight weight. It’s not far-fetched to see her as Putinesque.”

But internet users, including some with anti-Kremlin views, saw the story as a new low in anti-Russian sentiments.

Russia expert, Mark Galeotti, said on his website that The Times have reached the “peak” with its article, which he blasted as “cliché Russophobia.”

Mark Galeotti also argued that it was “pretty damn far-fetched” to suggest that the Kremlin, would want President Putin to be perceived as “a little girl who cries when she doesn’t get what she wants and gets her pig to dress up like a baby.”