President Medvedev takes part in today's polls

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived at a polling station on Sunday to take part in today's polls.

Russians are voting on Sunday to elect a president for the fifth time in the nation’s post-Soviet history, with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin bidding to return to the Kremlin for a third time.

Four other candidates - Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party head Vladimir Zhirinovsky, A Just Russia Party leader Sergei Mironov and the only independent, billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov - are also running in the March 4 vote.

Putin, who was Russia's president from 2000 to 2008 and has been prime minister since then, has led the race but may be forced into a second round if he gets less than 50 percent of the vote in the first.

The winner of the vote will be inaugurated as new president in May and will serve for six years, not four as previously.