Moscow - Russia's upper house of parliament on Wednesday approved a Kremlin bill to lengthen the presidential term from four to six years.

The bill to amend the constitution was backed by 144 senators, a majority in the Federation Council. Only one senator voted against.

The Kremlin-sponsored reform was on Friday near unanimously voted through Russia's lower house, the State Duma.

To become constitutional law the bill now faces one last vote, where it must be approved by two thirds of Russia's regional legislatures.

While President Dmitry Medvedev launched the draft law just six months into his presidency, constitutional experts say the amendment would not apply to him.

Many analysts say he is more likely a stand in for Putin to return to the Kremlin for what would now be 12 more years.

Putin stepped down as president in May because the constitution barred him from running for a third consecutive term.

Now serving as prime minister, Putin played down a return to the Kremlin office. He backed the term extensions last week, but called it "premature" to say who might benefit.

The vote came a little over two weeks after Medvedev declared his intention to push through the amendment in his state-of-the-nation address on November 5.

A survey by state-run pollsters VTsIOM released Friday found 56 per cent of Russians in favour of a longer presidency and 29 per cent opposed. (dpa)