However, inside Russia, few dared to cast a protest vote against the Kremlin's ruler at noon. According to Sunday evening's exit polls, Vladimir Putin won his fifth term as president with 87 percent of the votes.

The VCIOM public opinion research organization published its exit poll results for the Russian presidential election on Sunday evening at 7 p.m. Central European Time, following the closing of the polls in Kaliningrad. The polls indicate that Vladimir Putin has won the three-day election with 87.8 percent of the vote, commencing his fifth presidential term. According to VCIOM, among the other nominal and inconsequential candidates, Communist Nikolai Haritonov received 4.6 percent, Vyacheslav Davankov 4.2 percent, and Lemonyid Slutsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia garnered 3 percent.

Vladimir Putin has been serving as either the President or Prime Minister of Russia since 1999. Between 1999 and 2000 and again between 2008 and 2012, he was the Prime Minister, and he has been the uninterrupted President since 2000, and again from 2012 onwards.

On Sunday, opponents of the Kremlin queued at foreign polling stations for the "Noon Against Putin" protest campaign, originally initiated by Alexei Navalny. The action was subsequently continued by his widow, Yulia Navalnaya, and former allies. However, this gesture was barely noticeable in the media accessible within Russia, only reported by opposition portals operating in exile. In Russia, only a few intrepid individuals dared to partake in such protest activities due to the Moscow prosecutor's office deeming the noon protest vote an extremist act on Thursday, warning that participants could face several years of imprisonment for "anti-state, extremist" acts.

Possibly influenced by this threat, many opted for more drastic forms of protest, pouring green paint and other liquids into ballot boxes. In Saint Petersburg, a young woman threw a Molotov cocktail at a polling station. At noon in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Yekaterinburg, flash mobs were enacted, charging into polling stations. OVD-Info, a group monitoring crackdowns on Russian opposition, reported that around 80 people were detained across 20 Russian cities for participating in the protest voting action.

In Saint Petersburg, a woman threw a firebomb at the entrance of a polling station, while in Kolomna, located 117 kilometers southeast of Moscow, a woman was detained because her 15-year-old son had scribbled on his ballot.

The Moscow Times spoke with a few voters in Voronezh, southern Russia, who turned up for the noon action. A young university lecturer noted that there were relatively few people, and those who did show up came and went quickly. "During the time I was inside the polling station, I saw about 10 people come through. I believe some couldn’t make it, and others were frightened," she said.

Although protesters believe that it's impossible to prevent Vladimir Putin's landslide victory, a 28-year-old man highlighted the necessity to act. "If everyone thinks it's pointless, then nothing will definitely change. The more people who vote against Putin, the harder it will be to manipulate the elections."

Alexei Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, cast her vote at the Russian embassy in Berlin before 7 p.m. after waiting in line for hours. She thanked those who stood with her and revealed that she wrote the name of her husband, who passed away in a Siberian prison camp on February 16th and who has been barred by Russian authorities from running in the presidential election for the past six years and even now. It is known that several thousand people in Russia voted similarly.

When Sky News asked what she wished to convey to the Russians, Yulia Navalnaya replied, "Be brave, and soon we will triumph."

However, this presidential election had been easily manipulated by the Kremlin from the outset. They disqualified all real opposition candidates, set a goal to exceed all previous levels of participation, and ensured unprecedented support for Putin, securing it on time. They expanded the election to three days and even added online voting options. According to opposition social media and press reports, government employees were coerced into voting on Friday, leading to a system crash. In the Far Eastern regions, voters lined up from dawn on Saturday, some out of conviction and others due to "encouragement" from employers. The Central Election Commission reported on Sunday morning at 10 a.m. Moscow time that participation had already reached 61.09 percent, not including online voters.

Kremlin-aligned Russian media only reported unprecedentedly high turnout, "provocations" by Ukraine near the border, attacks on Belgorod and its surroundings including numerous oil refineries, and a large-scale cyberattack, depicting it as "unsuccessful" foreign attempts to disrupt the presidential election.