MOSCOW, March 3 (RIA Novosti) - With some 96% of the ballots counted so far in Russia's presidential elections, Kremlin-backed Dmitry Medvedev has gained 70.11% of the vote, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said early on Monday.

His nearest rival, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, was on 17.84%. Nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky had 9.43% of the vote and the leader of the pro-Western Democratic Party, Andrey Bogdanov, - 1.28%.

The overwhelming lead is enough to give Medvedev victory in the first round of voting.

The turnout at Russia's presidential polls hit 69.6% as of Monday morning, the CEC said.