The OSCE's election monitoring arm, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), said its monitors had been "continuously denied entry visas into Russia" and accused Moscow of being unwilling to cooperate with the organization, although Russian officials said all the necessary visa documents had been sent to the ODIHR Warsaw office on time.
"We understand this decision was made as a result of what ODIHR termed "unprecedented" restrictions on its mission, which included limits on the number of observers and duration of their stay in Russia, as well as other constraints," the U.S. Department of State said in a statement late Friday.
"Invitations with such conditions undermine the integrity of ODIHR and its ability to adequately perform its responsibilities, which we and other countries have vigorously supported as the international "gold standard" in election observation," the document said.
In total, Russia had invited about 350 international observers, including 70 from ODIHR, to monitor the elections to its lower house. The figure is about three times lower than during the previous parliamentary elections, four years ago.
Russia's top election official Vladimir Churov said the election authorities had invited fewer observers this time in an effort to rely more on "professionals".
A total of 11 political parties are running for 450 seats in the State Duma, which is currently dominated by the pro-Kremlin United Russia.
President Vladimir Putin announced in October that he would head the party's candidate list at the elections, a move which has all but guaranteed United Russia a resounding victory at December's polls.
Latest opinion surveys put United Russia in the lead with 57-59% of popular support. The Communist Party and the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party are the other two players expected to make it into the State Duma, enjoying up to 9% and 7% of support respectively. No other parties are expected to overcome the 7% threshold.
