Viewers were treated to an unscheduled behind-the-scenes look at Russia's primetime television news on Monday when make-up artists wandered onto the set and started touching up the presenters.

Anchors on NTV channel's main evening news, Olga Belova and Anton Khrekov, were introducing a report on the candidacy of a new general prosecutor when two women appeared and started dusting powder on Khrekov's face.

The presenters struggled to make the intruders understand they were live on air, while a man in a white T-shirt nonchalantly handed out sheets of green paper.

"We are in the picture, we are in the picture," Belova said with a slight smile, while Khrekov stared impassively at the camera, outwardly unmoved while a comb ran through his hair and a make-up brush advanced across his face.

NTV news was renowned for its independent coverage in the 1990s, but became more muted in its criticism of the Kremlin after it was taken over by gas giant Gazprom in 2000.