Russians are voting today
Russia is holding a presidential election today and Putin is expected to win in dominant fashion. Polls show he has around 70% support, compared to around 11% for his nearest challengers.
"I voted for Putin," said Lyubov Kachan, a teacher in the settlement of Ust-Djeguta, in southern Russia told Reuters.
"If anything is not going our way right now, that's thanks to the world which treats us so negatively, while he is trying to stand up to that," she said.
One metric Putin and opponents will watch is voter turnout, which could be as low as 35%. That would somewhat tarnish the exercise but at this point, nothing threatens Putin's power.
The final polls close at 1800 GMT.
