December 1 sees the so-called "Day of Silence" - a time when all campaigning is banned. Electioneering is also banned on election day.
A total of about 350 international observers will be monitoring the elections, the head of the Russian Central Electoral Commission said.
Vladimir Churov also said political parties would send an estimated 1.5-2 million observers to some 96,000 polling stations across the country, adding that more than 360 polling stations would also be set up abroad.
The new State Duma is set to meet for its first session following the elections on December 25-28, a deputy speaker said.
The State Duma is currently dominated by the pro-Kremlin United Russia. President 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.
The only other parties expected to overcome the 7% threshold at the elections are the Communist Party and the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe election watchdog earlier announced that it would be unable to attend the parliamentary elections due to "unprecedented" restrictions, saying that its monitors had been "continuously denied entry visas into Russia."
Russia's Foreign Ministry has denied the allegations, however, saying Moscow had fulfilled all its commitments, but had only seen in reply "a demonstrative unwillingness to follow procedures defined by Russian law."
However, the OSCE's presence at elections is seen as vital by most Western governments, and the current crisis will do little to counter mounting criticism of a perceived Kremlin crackdown on democratic principles.
After the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) announced that it would not be attending Russia's parliamentary elections, President Vladimir Putin accused the United States of putting pressure the organization.
Washington had earlier accused Russia of trying to undermine the OSCE's election work, with a senior U.S. government official claiming that Russia was seeking to weaken the OSCE and its election monitoring mission.
He said Russia was working to "cripple" the ODIHR.
Russia said on Thursday it would invite the ODIHR, which refused to attend December's parliamentary polls, to observe next year's presidential elections.
The OSCE played a key role in unveiling alleged ballot rigging in the 2004 Ukrainian presidential elections, leading to an election re-run in which a pro-Western candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, defeated his pro-Kremlin rival Viktor Yanukovych.
