Moscow - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has not ruled out another run in the Kremlin, backed a proposal on Wednesday to extend by two years the presidential term.

Putin, however, added it was too soon to say who would be the next candidate for the constitutionally-stretched office.

Legal experts say the changes would not benefit Putin's successor President Dmitry Medvedev, though Russian lawmakers moved Wednesday to fast-track approval of his bill.

"I support (President) Dmitry Medvedev's proposal. With regards who and when of a run for the next term, it is premature to discuss this," Putin was quoted by news agency Interfax as saying.

Russian media speculate that Medvedev's bill is only meant to pave the way for 12 more years of Putin in the country's top office.

It builds on popular calls made throughout the media in May for Putin to remain in office for a third term. Russia's constitution bans more than two consecutive presidential terms.

Russia's parliamentary committee on constitutional legislation moved earlier Wednesday to speed approval of the Kremlin bill by as soon as Friday.

"We recommend that the necessary three readings of the draft law be discharged in one time," the committee head Vladimir Pligin told fellow lawmakers.

Pligin's comments came just one day after the Kremlin submitted the draft bill to the Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament.

Medvedev's administration can easily muster the two-thirds majority in parliament needed to enact the change, after the pro-Kremlin party headed by his predecessor Vladimir Putin swept the polls in last year's vote.

The ex-Kremlin leader has been criticized for centralized power during his eight years by for example replacing elections of regional governors with presidential appointments and for consolidating the country's political life into one dominant party. (dpa)