A mixed variational principle is proposed for the static analysis of linear elasitic problems. Stationary point of the suggested functional is shown to be a solution of the considered problem. Necessarily conditions are found for the bilinear form of the functional to be positive definite, which is valuable for analysing contact problems by the mixed finite element method and for imposing effiency of solution technique. Proposed functional is shown to be a combination of the Hellinger-Reissner functional and the potential energy. Hence, the Hellinger-Reissner functional is a special form of it.
