Across the Far East and Siberia, where the voting began, the data was on average 5% higher than in 2012. As of 3pm Moscow time, other regions were reporting interim figures 50% above those recorded at the same time six years ago. Two hours later, turnout broke the 50% level.
Even in Moscow, where the electorate is traditionally reluctant, polling stations were unusually busy, with queues lining up in front of some of them.
A girl casts her ballot at a Bakhchysarai voting station.
A line in front of the Russian embassy in Bishkek.
Presidential candidate and incumbent President Vladimir Putin after casting his vote at the Russian Academy of Sciences polling station.
A video conference with the crew of MKS-54/55 space station. On screen: Roskosmos' cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov.
Russian nuns prepare to cast their ballots at a polling station in Jerusalem.
A folk band performs in front of a polling station in Khabarovsk.
Voters at the Kazansky railway terminal polling station in Moscow.
Presidential candidate Pavel Grudinin casts his vote.
Russian Election Committee information center.
Presidential candidate Maxim Suraykin casts his vote.
Members of a "walrus" club ahead of voting in Barnaul.
Presidential candidate Grigory Yavlinsky casts his vote.
Ukranian police block the entrance to the Russian consulate in Odessa.
Presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak casts her vote.
A girl during voting at No.90 polling station in Moscow.
A volunteer in front of a polling station in Moscow.
Presidential candidate Vladimir Zhirinovsky casts his vote.
Ukranian police and nationalists block the Russian embassy building in Kiev.
Inside the Russian Central Election Commission information center.
Presidential candidate Sergey Baburin casts his vote.
Presidential candidate Boris Titov casts his vote.
A girl holds up a promotional t-shirt at a polling station in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev casts his vote.
A man walks his dog outside a polling station in Moscow.
Girls in traditional dress at a polling station in Kazan.
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© AP Photo / Pavel Golovkin
A police cadet casts her vote at a polling station in Moscow.
Central Election Commission members count votes at a polling station in Vladivostok.
A child plays with a balloon near voting booths inside the Kazansky railway terminal.
