MOSCOW – Vladimir Putin will return to the Kremlin with 69 percent of thevote, according to the last survey by state pollsters before the Russianpresidential election on Sunday.

The figure has dipped from highs of 77 percent shortly after Putinannounced his candidacy in December, but there is little doubt he will winin a landslide even after a lacklustre campaign.

“There are several reasons why Putin has such a high rating. There are ofcourse his personal qualities. He is the most trusted (candidate),” head ofstate pollster VTsIOM Valeriy Fyodorov told a press conference on Monday.

Around 90 percent of people who were aware of Putin s programme said theysupported it, Fyodorov said.

Putin has not produced an official programme but he discussed poverty andenvironmental issues during a state of the nation address this month.

He has refused to take part in televised debates with his seven challengersand his campaign videos have relied solely on archive materials.

Pavel Grudinin, the millionaire Communist Party candidate, is expected tocome in second with around seven or eight percent of the vote, according toVTsIOM figures.

Ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky is projected to garner around fivepercent, while former reality TV show host Ksenia Sobchak will likely takebetween one and two percent.

The other three candidates are predicted to trail with one percent or less.

Between 63 and 67 percent of eligible voters will take part in theelection, VTsIOM said, with turnout becoming a key focus in the absence ofsuspense over the outcome.

Despite campaign promises when Putin returned to the Kremlin in 2012 afterfour years as prime minister, his last term has seen a drop in livingstandards and increasing isolation on the world stage.

But Putin s approval ratings have remained sky-high, boosted by a slavishdomestic media and foreign interventions including the annexation of Crimeafrom Ukraine.

He is also widely seen as the man who brought stability after the politicaland economic chaos of the 1990s, an image he has sought to reinforce. -Agencies