The Russian contingent, made up of Nikita Nagornyy, David Belyavskiy, Nikolai Kuksenkov, Nikita Ignatyev and Denis Abliazin posted a commanding score of 271.378, a total which would have been enough to win World Championships gold in Glasgow last year.

Britain’s Nile Wilson, Dan Purvis, Kristian Thomas, Courtney Tulloch and Louis Smith were forced to settle for silver for the second edition of the event in a row as they managed 268.427, nearly three points adrift of Russia.

The Glasgow 2015 silver medallists provided the closest competition to the Russians across all of the apparatus and finished comfortably in front of bronze medallists Switzerland.

The hosts, represented by Pablo Braegger, Eddy Yusof, Benjamin Gischard, Oliver Hegi and Christian Baumann, ended on 263.278 points.

“It was a great competition with lots of positives for us all individually and as a team,” Britain’s Thomas said.

“The main focus at these championships is to use them to help us be at our best for Rio and I think we can all be happy that we have done that and of course it’s great to have a medal for our country.”

The formidable Russians, who performed disappointingly in Glasgow but have now signalled their intentions ahead of this year’s Olympic Games, led from the start and recorded a combined 45.866 after the first rotation.

They were then able to extend their lead at the summit of the standings on the pommel horse, the second of their six apparatus, as they improved their advantage over Britain by more than a point.

Britain then fell further behind at the halfway stage and from that point on, the destination of the gold medal never looked in doubt but they were still able to impress, with Wilson scoring an excellent 15.966 on the tricky parallel bars.

While Russia and Britain battled for gold, Switzerland managed to hold on to third spot, with Ukraine not quite living up to expectations.