Putin asks voters to determine Russia's future

STORY: "You are not only to cast your vote but to firmly declare your will and aspiration, your personal involvement in Russia's further development, because the election is a step into the future," Putin said in a video address first shown in the Russian far east and reported by national news agencies.

Putin, 71 and in power as president or prime minister since 2000, faces three challengers in three days of voting beginning on Friday (March 15). None of the challengers has criticized him.

Opinion polls show he is supported by a majority of Russians, with one survey last month giving him 75% support.

Two candidates who had hoped to run on a platform of calling for an end to the conflict in Ukraine, officially described by Russia as a "special military operation," were ruled ineligible.