A member of the Russian president's campaign team has claimed that that turnout was bolstered by the confrontation with Britain over the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and it helped propel Mr Putin to power.
Amidst reports of rigging, 65-year-old Mr Putin took more than 76 per cent of the vote according to early results.
Hear Andrei Kondrashov, a spokesman for the Putin campaign:
“Ten days ago sociologists had believed it [turnout] would be about 50 to 60 per cent. Now we can see that the number is higher than we expected. Much higher. This is largely thanks to the UK.
''Unfounded accusations make the Russian people more unified and bring us together around the centre of power, which today, of course, is Putin. So I would like to thank the UK for helping us with this high turnout, which we ourselves could not have dreamt of.''
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