In a widely expected outcome, the Central Election Commission, with just in excess of 70 per cent of the votes counted, announced that Putin had won 75.9 per cent of the vote, a marked increase on the 64 per cent he won at the last election, in 2012. Putin’s most vehement foe, anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny, was barred from running Sunday because he was convicted of fraud in a case widely regarded as politically motivated. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

FILE - In this file photo taken on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, Russian TV host Ksenia Sobchak speaks about her campaign to challenge Vladimir Putin in the March 18 presidential election, during an interview to the Associated Press in Moscow, Russia. The election came amid escalating tensions with the West, with reports that Moscow was behind the nerve-agent poisoning this month of a former Russian double agent in Britain and that its internet trolls had waged an extensive campaign to undermine the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Under the current constitution, he would not be eligible to seek another consecutive term, but he could repeat the tactic he used in 2008 when he allowed Dmitry Medvedev to take the presidency for one term while he continued to wield decisive power as prime minister.
Voters in Russia cast their votes for the President of Russia. Incumbent Vladimir Putin wins a fourth term in office, with just over 75% of the popular vote.