Early voting for the presidential elections has started in the remote and hard-to-reach regions of Russia on Friday, the Central Elections Commission (CEC) said.

According to CEC, early voting was held in 37 regions, mostly in the Far East.

The CEC said no more than one percent of the country's population are expected to take part in the early voting, with the ballot boxes being delivered to their homes by special transport, usually helicopters.

Russian electoral law permits early voting for the residents of the most remote regions and the citizens who are unable to attend polling stations in their normal places of residence, like sailors or the overseas Russian nationals.

According to the CEC website, there are over 1.7 million Russian citizens with the voting right permanently residing abroad. They can join the early voting in polling stations opened in 58 Russian embassies throughout the world.

The early voting will continue until March 3, one day before the officially-set presidential election day.