The lights from street lamps had hardly warmed up by 7:30 am on Sunday when snowplows cleared the way in my suburb to the presidential election ballot post at Moscow State University.

It was -8 C. Wind blew snow falling from the sky into the faces of pedestrians walking cautiously on the slippery road.

I was afraid that I might not find anyone to interview at ballot station No 3181 because of the forbidding weather, but by the time I arrived there were already dozens of constituents waiting to vote.