Protests expected after Putin's near-certain victory

The Kremlin gained control of all major television channels, whose news reports turned into uncritical recitations of Putin's programs, often augmented with admiring footage of him riding horseback, scuba-diving, or petting wild animals.

But the protests, sparked by allegations of fraud in December's parliamentary elections, forced notable changes.

Authorities gave permission, however grudgingly, for opposition rallies that attracted vast crowds, upward of 50,000 in Moscow. State television gave them substantial and mostly neutral coverage.

Whether that tolerance will last after the election is unclear. According to the most recent survey by the independent Levada Center polling agency, Putin is on track to win the election with around two-thirds of the vote against four challengers - enough to bolster his irritable denunciations of the protesters as a small, coddled minority.

Putin has repeatedly alleged that the protesters are stooges of Western countries that want to undermine Russia and he has mocked them, saying for instance that their white ribbon emblems looked like condoms.

Protests after the election appeared certain.

"People in Russia are not going to recognize Putin's victory in the first round," Alexei Navalny, one of the loosely knit opposition's most charismatic figures, declared flatly last week.

Whether Sunday's vote is seen as honest is likely to be key.