Russia's upper chamber of parliament set March 2 as the date presidential polls will be held on Monday, the same day on which outgoing incumbent Vladimir Putin blasted the US for allegedly trying to discredit next month's parliamentary elections.

The date has been long mooted, but the Federation Council's decision is final, and it gives presidential hopefuls between December 12 and January 16 to register.

Putin, who is ineligible to run for a third term, has come under criticism from the US and EU over the crackdown on opposition forces in recent days.

The outgoing president has no apparent plans to abandon politics and will run for parliament, leaving the door open for taking over as the country's PM, a job he has held briefly before elected president in 2000.

Faced with growing worries abroad regarding his track record on freedom of speech, he lashed out at the US on Monday, accusing the traditional Cold War enemy of trying to influence observers into boycotting the polls.

In a scathing attack, he said Washington was behind the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) decision not to send a full team of observers to the country, in a bid to discredit the elections.

"We will certainly take this into account with our bilateral ties with this state," he added, referring to the US, as quoted by the BBC.

OSCE, which routinely sends experts to observe elections throughout its member states, has dismissed his claims.

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