Moscow - A Kremlin bill to extend the presidential term from four to six years was almost unanimously voted through its second reading Wednesday in Russia's lower house of parliament.

The proposed constitutional amendment now faces one final reading.

While President Dmitry Medvedev launched the draft law, constitutional experts say the law would not apply to him.

Many analysts say he is just a seat warmer setting the way for 12 more years of Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. Currently serving as prime minister, Putin has not ruled out another presidential term.

Putin backed the term extensions this week but said it was "premature" to say who they might benefit.

Moscow - A Russian military court will allow public and media access to the trial of three men charged over the murder investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, it ruled in a crucial first hearing Monday.

Police officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov and two Chechen brothers, Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov, stand accused of plotting the murder of Politkovskaya, gunned down in front of her central Moscow flat in 2006.

Investigators are still hunting for a third Chechen man, Rustam Makhmudov, suspected of being the pointman in the contract killing.

Moscow - One man was killed and two injured in an exchange of fire in the Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia on Saturday, officials in the Abkhazian capital Sukhumi said.

The clash took place after Abkhazian border troops discovered a group of six people attempting to cross the border from mainland Georgia near the city of Gali, the Interfax agency cited Abkhazian officials as saying.

The casualties in the firefight were said to be intruders, who Abkhazia claims were Georgian saboteurs.

There was no comment from the Georgian side on the incident.

Moscow- Russia's parliament, the Duma, signaled overwhelming support Friday for legislation that would extend the nation's presidential term from four years to six years.

The measure, which still faces its second and third readings next week, garnered the support of 388 of the Duma's 450 members.

Moscow - A sailor was charged with activating the locked-down fire safety system on a Russian nuclear submarine over a weekend accident that asphyxiated 20 people, investigators said on Thursday.

"The inquiry established that a sailor set off the anti-fire system on board the submarine without authorization and for no reason," news agency Itar-tass quoted Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for Russia's top investigative committee, as saying.

Moscow - The Russian army will fire more than 160,000 officers from 2009 to 2012 as part of sweeping military reforms, chief of the military's General Staff told news agency Interfax on Thursday.

The army propose to resettle the discharged officers in Russia's Far East and Siberia, General Nikolai Makarov said.

"For officers, fired from the army, the government is working on a programme for their employment and housing in regions that are sharply interested in attracting labour hands," Makarov was quoted as saying.