At five minutes past four yesterday afternoon the heads of the demonstrators outside the US embassy in Moscow were turned by the squeal of sirens. Police cars led the motorcade, followed closely by Russian army jeeps and then the long black limousine with the ensign of the President of the Russian Federation came into view.
On a day on which the Russian state's relations with the west hit their lowest point ever, President Yeltsin was heading out of town at speed in the direction of his country retreat.
The scene encapsulated Russia's powerlessness over Kosovo. Hundreds of demonstrators were arriving to vent their anger against the raids on Yugoslavia.
Communists waved red flags and railed against American "fascism". Neo-fascists hoisted the flag of Serbia and shouted support for their "Slavic brothers".
A Christian believer carried a banner reading "We are behind Serbia and Montenegro: 150 million Orthodox Russians". Two youngsters held up a piece of cardboard with a simple message in English: "NATO must die". But the President was going home early.
That morning Mr Yeltsin had described the bombing of Yugoslavia as "the worst diplomatic mistake America has ever made". Russia had plans for "extraordinary measures" but, he said, claiming the high moral ground, it was not going to use them yet.
He had spoken to President Clinton on the phone and the American leader had been shaken by what he had to say, Mr Yeltsin told the Russian people on television.
Later the Russian Defence Ministry claimed that one German aircraft and three tomahawk missiles had been shot down. The Defence Minister, Mr Igor Sergeyev, said that Russian military intelligence had evidence that NATO was preparing to send a 22,000-strong ground force into Kosovo.
At an afternoon press briefing the chief of the Russian general staff, Gen Anatoly Kvashnin, claimed that 70 people, 50 of them civilians, had lost their lives in the raids and that more than 200 were injured. None of the claims has been substantiated.
At the same briefing Russia's Foreign Minister was in strong anti-American mood, stopping just short of calling the US the "evil empire". It was obvious, he said, that the true objective of the NATO strikes was "to impose the political, military and economic dictates of the United States".
The Americans, he said, wanted to control the destiny of the peoples of the world, and European countries were conniving with them in violation of international law. NATO had breached its agreement with Russia that force or threats of force would not be used against each other or against any other country, its sovereignty or territorial integrity. It had barely admitted three new member nations before demonstrating its truly aggressive essence.
The rhetoric was straight out of the Cold War. There is little doubt that the NATO action will alienate Russians for some time to come, although no direct retaliation is likely. Even the decision to withdraw from NATO's Partnership for Peace is a temporary one, and Mr Yeltsin's tough phone call to Mr Clinton went only as far as to say that co-operation between the two countries on nuclear issues had been "put in doubt".
While retaliation on the diplomatic front by Russia is unlikely, the feeling among ordinary Russians is one of extreme resentment at NATO's action and of humiliation that their country, once a great superpower, has been unable to prevent the strikes.