Cossacks exit a polling booth in Rostov-on-Don (AP),Russian officials denounced both cases as efforts to interfere in the Russian election. But Mr Putin’s popularity remained strong, apparently buttressed by nationalist pride. Casting his ballot in Moscow, Mr Putin was confident of victory, saying he would consider any percentage of votes a success. Some 145,000 observers were monitoring the presidential vote, including 1,500 foreigners, and they and ordinary Russians reported hundreds of problems. Russian election officials moved quickly to respond to some of the violations.

Source: Daily Mail March 18, 2018 18:35 UTC