A few shots of Putin casting his ballot today in Moscow:
Ukraine Steps Up Security At Russian Facilities, Blocks Most Russians From Voting
By RFE/RL
Security has been stepped up outside Russian government installations in Ukraine after Kyiv announced that only diplomats would be allowed access to vote in Russia’s presidential election.
Ukrainian police were guarding the Russian Embassy in Kyiv and consular offices in Odesa, Lviv, and Kharkiv on March 18.
Members of Ukrainian national groups were reported to have gathered on a street near the Russian Embassy in the Ukrainian capital.
Russia has accused Ukraine of violating international norms.
"It is an open interference into the purely domestic affairs of the Russian Federation, which can entail escalation of tension in the already strained bilateral relations," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement quoted by TASS on March 18.
The Ukrainian government announced on March 16 that only Russian diplomats in Ukraine would be allowed to cast ballots in the election, which Vladimir Putin is set to win.
Millions of ethnic Russians live in Ukraine, but it is unclear how many are registered to vote in Russia.
Ukraine is protesting voting in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula forcibly seized by Russia four years ago.
Kyiv is also angry with Russia’s support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, where more than 10,300 people have been killed in fighting since April 2014.
With reporting by TASS and AP
Russia's Election Commission Says Target Of Hacking Attempt
The Russian Central Election Commission says its website was targeted in an unsuccessful hacking attempt during the March 18 presidential election.
Commission chair Ella Pamfilova said it was a DDoS, or distributed denial of service, attempt tracked to computers in 15 countries, which she did not name.
Pamfilova said the hacking attempt occurred while voting was already taking place in Russia’s Far East.
With U.S. authorities investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Russian authorities have claimed that foreign powers are seeking to interfere in the Russian presidential vote.
President Vladimir Putin is set to win and is hoping for high turnout, despite widespread apathy. Pamfilova said turnout nationwide at 11 a.m. Moscow time was 16.9 percent, up from 12.2 percent at the same time in the last election in 2012.
Based on reporting by Interfax, TASS, and AP
The Russian Service of RFE/RL shares this video showing how voters in Ufa, a city in the Russian region of Bashkortostan, are being lured to the polls with a lottery. (Unclear what or how much the winner gets.)
Video of apparent ballot-stuffing in Sakha Republic (Yakutia)
Aleksei Navalny isn't on the ballott. But his YouTube channel will be broadcasting from the polls throughout the day.
The Central Election Commission says turnout is nearly 35 percent nationwide.
And Mikhail Vinogradov, president of the Petersburg Politics Foundation, compares the 2012 and 2018 turnout in regions in the Far East .
Aleksei Navalny's website Navalny.com is updating turnout in real time based on reports from his electoral observers. In some cases, the opposition leader's turnout estimates are even higher than the Central Election Commissions.