MOSCOW, November 12 (RIA Novosti) - Some 100 observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) are to monitor Russian parliamentary elections on December 2, the CIS election monitoring chief said on Monday.

"The headquarters [of the CIS election monitoring mission] will start work on November 19. The team will include no more than 100 observers," Yevgeny Sloboda said.

The CIS, formed in 1991, is a confederation of 11 of the 15 ex-Soviet republics. The Baltic states - Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia - declined to join after the break up of the Soviet Union in 1991, while Turkmenistan became an associate member in 2005.

Invitations to observe the December elections were sent to all of CIS member states, with the exception of Ukraine and Moldova. Kiev earlier announced its intention to abstain from monitoring the elections as part of the CIS monitor team, while Chisinau is to participate as part of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission, Sloboda said.

A total of 350 foreign election observers are to monitor elections to Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma. The figure is approximately three times fewer than during 2003's parliamentary elections.

The head of the Central Election Commission, Vladimir Churov, explained that the number of foreign observers had been cut in order to involve "professionals" in the monitoring process.

The decrease in the number of monitors at the upcoming parliamentary elections has drawn criticism that Russia is breaching international commitments.

However, Russian deputy foreign minister, Alexander Grushko, rejected Washington-led criticism, pointing out that last year the U.S. invited a mere 16 monitors from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIH) to observe mid-term congressional elections.

Russia has invited 70 monitors from the ODIH alone, as well as hundreds from other international organizations, he said, adding that there are "no uniform standards for election monitoring at the OSCE."

The Duma elections are also expected to see observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Association of Central and Eastern European Election, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

A total of eleven parties are set to run for the State Duma, currently dominated by pro-Kremlin United Russia.