The outcome means Putin is set to embark on a new 6 year term that will see him overtake Josef Stalin and become Russia's longest-serving leader for more than 200 years if he completes it.

Putin won 87.8% of the vote, the highest ever result in Russia's post-Soviet history, according to pollster the Public Opinion Foundation.

The Russian Public Opinion Research Centre put Putin on 87%.

First official results indicated the polls were accurate.

The Russian election comes just over two years since Putin triggered the deadliest European conflict since World War Two by ordering the invasion of Ukraine.

However, The United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and other nations have said the vote was neither free nor fair due to the imprisonment of political opponents and censorship.