We, foreign (international) observers at elections of the President of the Russian Federation on March 4, 2012, accredited by the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation,

- considering genuinely democratic elections as the supreme expression of sovereignty, which belongs to the people of any state, the free expression of which is the basis of the authority and legitimacy of elected state bodies;

- recognizing political meaning of elections of the head of the Russian state for conducting of internal and external politics of the country;

- acting on the premise that international observation increases confidence in the electoral process and the goal of observation is an assistance in implementation of the electoral rights of citizens;

- relying on the provisions of the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE of June 29, 1990, the Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters, adopted by the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe on 18-19 October 2002, the Convention on Standards for Democratic Elections and Electoral Rights and Freedoms in CIS Member States of October 7, 2002, subject to the provisions of the Declaration of the Interparliamentary Assembly of CIS Member States «On principles of international monitoring of elections and referenda in Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States» of 25 November 2008, as well as the Declaration of Principles of International Election Observation and accompanying Code of Conduct for International Election Observers, endorsed by the United Nations on 27 October 2005, and other internatioal documents, agreed to:

1. conduct international observation of elections of deputies of the President of the Russian Federation on the basis of principles of objectivity, integrity, political neutrality, professionalism, respect for the national sovereignty, non-interference in the electoral process, renunciation of any kind of preferences to participants of the electoral process, recognition of other organizations and election observation missions;

2. abide by the Constitution and electoral law of the Russian Federation when carrying out the election observation and be guided by the above-mentioned international acts;

3. cooperate with the election organizers and contestants, civil society institutions of the Russian Federation and other international observers;

4. formulate our conclusions only on the basis of our own observation and facts derived from the observation;

5. inform the international community about our findings and assessments acting openly and publicly.