A flyover by Vladimir Putin's Soviet 'Doomsday' fighter plane was axed amid suspicions the Kremlin feared sabotage.
The entire air element of today's Victory Day parade - which would have consisted of 77 planes - was cancelled at the last minute, with officials blaming "bad weather ".
But apart from a few clouds it looked fairly calm and clear, and, regardless, Russia often uses "cloud spiking" technology to "change the weather".
The Ilyushin Il-80 was expected to form part of a demonstration of Moscow's military might on the 77th anniversary of the fall of Nazi Germany.
The foreboding aircraft would be used in the event of nuclear war and had been spotted flying around the capital last month.
Kremlin officials previously confirmed it would be showcased with a low flypast over the Red Square this morning, and was involved in "rehearsals".
Putin has frequently played God in the past two decades and ordered planes to spray early morning clouds with a chemical cocktail so as not to rain on his parade.
This ensures the Red Square is dry - and even sunny - by 10am each year for his military show but hapless villages outside the city are deluged with downpours.
Yet the Soviet-era technology was evidently not deployed today, suggesting an early decision to abort the aerial displays.
A Western diplomat said: “It looks like they got scared - perhaps of sabotage - and kept the planes grounded.
“The weather explanation does not add up.”
The giant Soviet-era plane - windowless apart from the cockpit and known as the ‘Flying Kremlin’ - has not been seen at a Victory Day commemoration since 2010.
Its expected reappearance was set to be a sign Putin wants to send a warning message to the West.
The Il-80 Maxdome was set to be escorted by two MiG-29s as it flies low over St Basil’s Cathedral.
Ramming home Russia ’s nuclear readiness, strategic missile carriers Tu-95MS and Tu-160 ‘White Swan’ were also due to be part of the fly-past.
As was a fifth-generation Su-57 fighter and Tu-22M3 long-range bombers.
The Russian Defence Ministry previously confirmed that eight MiG-29SMTs would fly in the form of the letter ‘Z’ in support of Russian servicemen participating in a special military operation in Ukraine.
The Russian President used his speech at the parade as an attempt to cast his invasion of Ukraine as a necessary response to Western policies.
He claimed that his attack on Russia's neighbour was necessary to ward off "an absolutely unacceptable threat just next to our borders".
And added that the West has been "preparing for the invasion of our land, including Crimea".
But the UK's Defence Secretary has rubbished his narrative.
Asked by journalists after a speech at London's National Army Museum in Chelsea, south-west London, today Mr Wallace bluntly denied that Nato and western allies have ever planned to attack Russia.
"President Putin has made a number of fairy-tale claims for months and years now," the Cabinet minister said.
"If it wasn't so tragic it would be amusing, but it isn't.
"One of his claims is that he is surrounded. Nato accounts for 6% of his land border. That's not being surrounded if only 6% of your land border is Nato countries.
"I think he is believing what he wants to believe - a slight shine of desperation.
"But let me put on the record categorically: Nato, Britain, eastern Europe is not planning to invade Russia and never has done."
Mr Wallace accused the Russian regime of "mirroring (the) fascism and tyranny" of Nazi Germany as the Moscow parade to celebrate the 1945 victory over Hitler's forces was under way.
Up to 60 are feared dead after the school in Bilohorivka in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine was bombed and caught fire on Saturday.
