MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/. More than 45,000 Russian citizens who are currently abroad have cast their votes in the Russian presidential election, Russian Foreign Ministry’s Ambassador-at-Large Andrei Nesterenko said.

"At the moment more than 45,000 people have voted," the diplomat said, voicing hope that the figure will grow.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has sent more than 160 diplomats to provide assistance to the election commissions abroad.

Russia is taking steps to ensure that those citizens who are serving abroad at military bases and as border guards were able to vote as well.

Eight candidates are running for the highest office in the Russian Federation.

Among them are: incumbent President Vladimir Putin; Pavel Grudinin, director of the Lenin State Farm (nominated by the Communist Party of Russia); TV personality and socialite Ksenia Sobchak (nominated by Civil Initiative); Sergey Baburin, head of the Russian People’s Union party; Maxim Suraikin, chairman of the Central Committee of the Communists of Russia party; Boris Titov, chairman of the Party of Growth and Russian Presidential Envoy for Entrepreneurs’ Rights; Grigory Yavlinsky, head of the Yabloko Party’s federal political committee; Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR).