Russians headed to the polls on Sunday for a presidential election. Polling began on schedule at 0800 (2200 Saturday GMT) in Russia's eastern-most Chukotka province. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin cast his ballot at a polling site in Moscow's prestigious Academy of Sciences. "I got up, worked out, and then I came here," Putin said, in comments reported by Itar-Tass. "I expect turnout will be substantial." Russian President Dmitry Medvedev experienced initial difficulty feeding his ballot into the slot of a mechanical ballot box, as he voted along with his wife Svetlana at a Moscow school. The Election Commission said nearly 110 million voters were registered to vote at more than 95,000 polling sites across the country's nine time zones. More than 450,000 police and troops were on duty to provide security. Voting was running smoothly at almost all locations, officials said.
