Sawt Falasteen - 'Everything is already decided': No suspense as vote begins in Russia

Like most voters, she predicted that President Vladimir Putin would win a fifth term in the elections where he is running virtually unopposed.

"This is the first time I'm voting because this year they made it seriously mandatory" at work, she said, declining to give her surname.

She said her employer pressured her into participating in the vote, which has been cast as a show of Russian's loyalty and support for Putin's military assault on Ukraine, now in its third year.

"If I didn't come to vote, there would have been problems for me."

So she went to the electronic booths underneath a golden chandelier of the Meshchansky registry office in Moscow, where weddings usually take place.

A polling agent escorted her to the booth, explaining how to vote on the shiny machines before stepping a few steps behind.

"I chose the obvious option" on the ballot, she calmly told AFP, implying the foregone result.

No anti-Kremlin candidates have been allowed on the ballot, and two notable pro-peace politicians were barred from running.

With all of Putin's major opponents dead, in prison or in exile, the outcome of the vote is not in any doubt.

- 'Grandiose plans' -

Moscow has pushed back on criticism and accredited over 300,000 Kremlin-friendly election observers, the head of the electoral commission Ella Pamfilova said.

Among them was Faizrakhman Kassenov, a Kazakh diplomat.

"The election of a Russian president is one of the most important events in Russia's political life," he said.

"It begins a new six-year political cycle, and Vladimir Vladimirovich has established big, grandiose plans for Russia," he said in referring to Putin.

Kassenov said he had not recorded any electoral violations.

Around him, voters trickled in slowly midafternoon at the Meshchansky office.

Earlier at the nearby school n.1,500, dozens of people -- mainly pensioners -- had lined up to wait for the polls to open.

"Stability" was the key word among the early voters, who expressed support for Putin.

"He's the best president we've had since the (Second World) war. It's our president. Putin," said Valentin, a 77-year-old former sailor.

He blamed the West for the conflict in Ukraine, saying Europe wanted to "wage war all the time" and accusing it of "organising provocations" against Russia.

Russia has lived under massive Western sanctions for two years.

The Kremlin says society is fully behind the Ukraine offensive, orchestrating a huge crackdown on dissent.

"The fifth column wants to make our lives difficult," Valentin said, using a term with Soviet-era connotations that refers to traitors.

- 'Weaken Russia' -

The first day of elections was marred by acts of vandalism at polling stations, with at least a dozen arrests.

But everything was calm within the blue walls of the Meshchansky office, where pensioner Alexandra Savina came to vote.

Like Valentin, Savina blasted Western attempts to "weaken Russia" and said she approved of Putin's decision to send troops to Ukraine.

The 78-year-old zeroed in on French President Emmanuel Macron advocating for limitless support to Kyiv, which has been intensely discussed on Russian state-run television.

"I watch all the information channels," Savina said.

Putin is omnipresent on Russian television, with government meetings broadcast live daily.

The Rossiya 1 channel even features a weekly show called "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" that chronicles the life of the Russian leader.

"I'm happy that I live to the day to see him re-elected," Savina said.

Victory would allow Putin to stay in power until 2030, longer than any Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the 18th century.

And Nadezhda, the ballerina, held no illusions about the election or politics in general.

"Around me, we're all used to the idea that everything is already decided for us, we can't do anything about it. It's all kind of fake."

W.AbuLaban--SF-PST