Russian Elections: Your questions answered
Our experts answer questions on President Putin鈥檚 elections
Russia鈥檚 elections have kicked off and bizarre scenes have already begun to unfold at polling stations across the country - including live pop performances, free pancakes, a bride and groom and a life-sized cardboard cut-out of Tucker Carlson.
President Putin is considered very likely to win, despite having already served four terms - the ex-KGB spy, 71, is already Russia鈥檚 longest-serving leader since Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
Valerie Hopkins, international correspondent for The New York Times and Francis Scarr, who monitors Russia for the 成人快手, answer all of your questions on this, the most unusual of elections.
Today鈥檚 episode is presented by Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaly Shevchenko.
It was made by Keiligh Baker. The producers were Arsenii Sokolov and Ivana Davidovic. The technical producer was Matt Hewitt. The series producer is Tim Walklate. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to +44 330 1239480
You can join the Ukrainecast discussion on Newscast鈥檚 Discord server here: tinyurl.com/ukrainecastdiscord.
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