It is a huge logistical exercise with over 100 million people eligible to vote.
Soldiers vote in a Moscow polling station.
Voters were faced with a bewildering range of parties - in St. Petersburg a girl helps her grandmother decide which of the 26 she will choose. A sailor from Russia's Black Sea fleet signs his ballot paper in the Ukrainian seaport of Sevestopol. Russia's neighbours will be watching the results of the elections. The older generation tend to favour the Communist Party, which is expected to win a majority. Pensioners in Moscow take their pick.