Russia election - latest updates: Putin looks set to tighten grip on power as international turmoil continues

Follow live as polls show result is likely to put Putin in power once again

Russian election 2018: who are the candidates?

Russia has gone to the polls in a vote that Vladimir Putin is certain to win - but which could nonetheless have big ramifications for the country's future.

Mr Putin is expected to win another six years in power and is seeking a big win on an impressive turnout to give him the legitimacy and mandate for what is likely to be his fourth and final term as president.

The Russian president cast his ballot at a polling station in Moscow on Sunday morning and has said in the lead-up to the vote that "the will of the people, the will of each Russian citizen, will determine the path the country will take".

He urged Russians to "use their right to choose the future for the great Russia that we all love".

He warned that failure to cast a ballot would mean that "this decisive choice will be made without your opinion taken into account".

No campaigning is allowed on Saturday, but the Kremlin's drive to encourage turnout for Sunday continues in full force.

A Russian election monitoring group said it registered an "alarming" rise in recent days in complaints that employers are forcing or pressuring workers to vote.

Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of the independent Golos center, told The Associated Press on Saturday the group also recorded smaller complaints, such as gimmicks like discounted potatoes for people who vote, or schools holding special performances on election day to lure parents to an onsite voting station.

He said his own group has come under increasing pressure as the elections approach, and warned that independent observers may be targeted by some kind of "attack" on voting day. He didn't elaborate.

Turnout-boosting efforts have been the most visible feature of the campaign — and all come from taxpayers' pockets. In Moscow alone, authorities are spending 50 million (£620,000) on balloons and festive decorations at polling stations.

In Moscow, first-time voters will be given free tickets for pop concerts featuring some of Russia's most popular artists who have campaigned for Putin. For older voters, Moscow health authorities will be offering free cancer screenings at selected polling stations.

In the southern city of Tambov, the state-sponsored Youth Parliament has called an Instagram competition. Voters who take selfies at polling stations and post them under the designated hashtag will be able to enter a raffle for high-end electronics including an iPhoneX.

Election observers and local media report threats and coercion of voters to re-register at their place of work and report later that they have voted.

Yevgeny Roizman, mayor of Russia's fourth-largest city Yekaterinburg and a rare government critic, said in a recent video blog that local officials and state employees have all received orders "from higher up" to make sure the turnout is over 60 percent.

"They are using everything: schools, kindergartens, hospitals — the battle for the turnout is unprecedented," Roizman said.

Ella Pamfilova, chairwoman of the Central Election Commission who was appointed to clean up the electoral system, vowed to respond to complaints about coercion to vote.

"Leave people alone," Pamfilova said at a recent session of the commission. "No manager has the right to tell them where to vote."

Putin has traveled across Russia, pledging to raise wages, pour more funds into crumbling health care and education and modernize dilapidated infrastructure.

The presidential vote is set on the anniversary of Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Polls show that most Russians continue to see the takeover of Crimea as a major achievement despite subsequent Western sanctions.

Among Putin's challengers is Ksenia Sobchak, a 36-year-old TV host who has campaigned on a liberal platform and criticised Putin's policies. Some see Sobchak, the daughter of Putin's one-time patron, as a Kremlin project intended to add a democratic veneer to the vote and help split the ranks of Kremlin critics.

Putin's main foe, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was barred from the race because of a criminal conviction widely seen as politically motivated. Navalny has called for boycotting the vote.

Voting starts in the Russian far east near Alaska and wraps up in the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.

Additional by agencies

[17 March 2018 14:00 · Adam Withnall]

During the course of the afternoon, as well as bringing you the latest updates on the last day before the election, we'll guide you through the campaign to this point with a series of articles on the major candidates and Putin's own attempts to win over voters. 

We start with an exclusive interview with Alexei Navalny, Russia's leading opposition figure who was later conveniently barred from running in the election because of a fraud conviction which, Navalny says, was politically motivated.

[17 March 2018 14:30 · Adam Withnall]

Ksenia Sobchak announced that she would run in the election back in October. Her candidacy has been controversial - as a celebrity and journalist whose father was a good friend to Vladimir Putin, some accuse her of being a Kremlin stooge designed to promote interest in the election without offering a serious opposition.

She nonetheless speaks for the liberal elite of Russia and has backers as a genuine, youthful candidate who might one day bring change to the country.

At her first press conference announcing her run, she declared that she wanted to make the election 'a reality show'.

[17 March 2018 14:50 · Adam Withnall]

But who is Ms Sobchak? She traces her routes back to a starring role as the Russian voice of Paris Hilton in movies, before remodelling herself as a serious journalist and leading voice of opposition to the Kremlin. 

[17 March 2018 15:10 · Adam Withnall]

In an exclusive interview last year, Ms Sobchak warned The Independent that Russia could not change too fast or "there will be lots of blood".

[17 March 2018 15:45 · Adam Withnall]

In November, sources told Oliver Carroll that Putin seriously considered quitting before this election, as he grows weary of the rigmarole of running the country. He has been ill during the campaign and noticeably more tired than in previous years.

[17 March 2018 16:15 · Adam Withnall]

Putin finally confirmed he would be running in December - effectively announcing that he would be the President for another six years. At the New Year, we previewed what his victory will mean for the country.

[17 March 2018 16:45 · Adam Withnall]

This year's campaign has been decidedly lacking in drama, with the result so far beyond doubt. Ksenia Sobchak has provided some flashpoints of controversy, however - including the moment she travelled to Chechnya to confront the region's leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, over its rights record.

[17 March 2018 17:30 · Adam Withnall]

In his attempts to muster enthusiasm ahead of tomorrow's election, Putin has travelled across the country, setting up carefully choreographed meetings with "ordinary people" while fastidiously avoiding run-ins with the press. Journalists have been allowed to travel along, but access to the President has been very limited. It has all created the perception of something of a non-campaign.

[17 March 2018 18:15 · Adam Withnall]

Last month, the pace of the travelling to campaign finally took its toll on Putin. After coughing his way through a number of speeches, he was forced to cancel several key appearances due to ill health for the first time in years.

[17 March 2018 18:28 · Steve Anderson]

A Russian election monitoring group is warning that independent observers may be targeted by an "attack" on voting day. 

Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of the independent Golos center, told The Associated Press  that the group has come under increasing pressure as the elections approach. 

He said the group has registered an "alarming" rise in recent days in complaints that employers are forcing or pressuring workers to vote. He described an "unprecedented" amount of money spent on getting out the vote. 

With President Vladimir Putin overwhelmingly expected to win another term, authorities are fighting voter apathy and seeking to encourage high turnout. 

Mr Melkonyants said "We are worried that there could be some kind of provocation ... I fear that independent observers will become objects of such an attack." He did not elaborate.