Snowflakes and a series of massive firework displays against the spectacular backdrop of the Kremlin brought the new millennium to Moscow. Ushering in the New Year is Russia's biggest festival, and with the millennium to greet, Moscow rose to the occasion magnificently.
Tverskaya, the former Gorky Street, was turned into a pedestrian precinct from early evening. A rock concert drew the youth of the city to Pushkin Square.
Further down Tverskaya a large illuminated millennium clock ticked towards the witching hour as thousands gathered for the momentous occasion. A vast crowd assembled at Red Square where huge TV screens repeatedly showed the exit of president Yeltsin and the ushering in of acting President Vladimir Putin.
Mr Putin turned down an invitation to attend a society ball in the Bolshoi Theatre. Instead he flew to Gudermes, in Russian-controlled Chechnya, to present hunting knives to soldiers.
Members of Moscow's dwindling Irish community and other expatriates gathered in Sally O'Brien's pub on Bolshaya Polyanka. At 11.30 an intrepid group of kilted Scotsmen headed out into the snow and sub-zero temperatures and set off in the general direction of Red Square.
The rest of the bar's customers, along with the staff, marched off to the Bolshoi Kamenny Bridge, one of the most spectacular vantage-points in the city.
On the stroke of midnight the sky was lit up by firework displays set off in various parts of the city. Champagne corks popped in a country where the excellent local bubbly costs £1.60 per bottle.
The doom-sayers were proved wrong. The lights did not go out. The nuclear missiles stayed in their silos. Water ran from the taps. The central heating kept working, the nuclear power plants remained intact and no planes fell from the sky. Russians smiled knowingly at the silly Y2K worries of their Western friends. One said: "I told you so. Everything here is done manually," as he demonstrated his own manual dexterity by unscrewing another champagne cork.
