Putin wins Russia's presidential election - exit poll

Russian President and Presidential candidate Vladimir Putin at a polling station during the presidential election in Moscow, Russia March 18, 2018. Yuri Kadobnov/POOL via Reuters

MOSCOW (Reuters) - An exit poll showed Vladimir Putin won Russia's presidential election held on Sunday with 73.9 percent of the vote.

The voting projection, by pollster VTsIOM, put Communist party challenger Pavel Grudinin in second place with 11.2 percent.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, head of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, was on 6.7 pct, and TV personality Ksenia Sobchak had 2.5 percent, the exit poll showed.

A man stands in front of a screen showing a live broadcast from polling stations during the presidential election, at the headquarters of Russia's Central Election Commission in Moscow, Russia March 18, 2018. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

(Reporting by Denis Pinchuk, Andrew Osborn and Katya Golubkova, Writing by Maria Kiselyova, editing by Christian Lowe)