UPDATE - Turnout exceeds 70% on last day of Russian presidential poll: Electoral body

UPDATES WITH LATEST DATA ON VOTER TURNOUT; COMMENTS BY RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN; REVISES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE; EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - A turnout surpassed 70% in Russia's presidential election as voting continued on the third and last day.

Three days of voting to elect the country’s leader began on Friday, with President Vladimir Putin seeking a fifth term.

The other three candidates include the New People Party’s Vladislav Davankov, the Liberal-Democrat Party of Russia's Leonid Slutsky and the Communist Party's Nikolai Kharitonov.

Speaking at a news conference in Moscow, Ella Pamfilova, head of Russia's Central Election Commission, said that the overall turnout in the presidential election as of 3:45 p.m. Moscow time (1245GMT), taking into account remote electronic voting, is 70.81%.

The latest data exceeds the overall turnout of 67.54% recorded in the 2018 Russian presidential election.

Pamfilova also said that about 280,000 DDoS cyberattacks against remote electronic voting had been foiled, including 215,000 directed specifically on the voting portal itself.

She also indicated that the voting was being monitored by 1,115 international observers and experts from 129 countries.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram that more than 125,000 people voted abroad at 230 polling stations in 111 countries as of midday.

"Considering the time difference, a number of sites will only open today. But even these data are a response to all those who tried to spread misinformation or informationally distort the voting process," she further said.

The first results of the Russian presidential election are expected on Sunday after 9:00 p.m. Moscow time (1800GMT).