Six more years of Vlad: Putin president again

NOT even bare-breasted women trying to steal his ballot box could stop Vladimir Putin winning the Russia's presidential election.

Mr Putin addressed a rally of tens of thousands of his supporters just outside the Kremlin, thanking his supporters for helping foil foreign plots aimed at weakening the country.

"We have won in an open and honest battle," Putin said with tears in his eyes and his voice hoarse with emotion, standing alongside outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev.

"I promised you we would win, we won. Glory to Russia!"

Putin tallied 58-59 per cent of Sunday's vote, according to exit polls cited by state television.

Communist Party candidate Gennady Zyuganov received about 18 per cent, according to the survey, and the others - nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, socialist Sergei Mironov and billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov - were in single digits.

With just over 20 per cent of all precincts counted, Putin was leading the field with 63 per cent of the vote, the Central Election Commission said.

If confirmed, claims of violations could undermine the legitimacy of Putin's victory and help fuel opposition protests.

Minutes after Putin placed his vote into the ballot box at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow a group of Ukrainian female protesters bared their breasts and tried to steal the ballot box with his vote.

The Femen group, known for their topless protests against trafficking of women and prostitution in several countries, turned up at the polling station in the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow minutes after Putin, who is expected to win the election, voted with his wife Lyudmila.

The three women pulled off their tops, shouted "Putin is a thief!" and tried to steal the ballot box with his vote before being detained by police, the group wrote on its blog.

The women revealed slogans painted on their chests and backs including "I steal for Putin" and "Kremlin rats".

Moscow police described the protest as a "provocation" on their website, saying that the women were taken to a police station and police were deciding whether they face charges.

The group held a topless protest at a polling station in Ukraine in February 2010 when current President Viktor Yanukovych was about to cast his vote in the presidential race, although they were detained before he appeared.

The opposition is gearing up for a massive rally in central Moscow today.

Golos, Russia's leading independent elections watchdog, said it received numerous reports of so-called "carousel voting", in which busloads of voters are driven around to cast ballots multiple times.

Alexei Navalny, one of the opposition's most charismatic leaders, said observers trained by his organisation also reported seeing extensive use of carousel voting.

Evidence of widespread vote fraud in December's parliamentary election drew tens of thousands to protest against Putin, who was president in 2000-2008 before moving into the prime minister's office due to term limits.

They were the largest outburst of public anger in post-Soviet Russia and demonstrated growing exasperation with massive corruption, rising social inequality and tight controls over political life under Putin.

Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov was trailing with 17.25 percent, and tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov was third with 7.29 per cent. Populist Vladimir Zhirinovsky had 7.19 per cent while the former upper house speaker Sergei Mironov polled 3.72 per cent.

-AFP