MOSCOW, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Russia's State Duma, the lower house of parliament, on Friday passed a bill concerning procedures for sending troops abroad, the Interfax news agency reported.

    The lawmakers voted unanimously to approve the bill, which the Kremlin said would lay the legal foundation for using troops abroad to prevent aggression by other states and to protect Russian citizens on foreign soil.

    The bill is expected to be approved soon by the Federation Council, the upper house, before it is signed by the Russian president into law.

    Russia's existing law only allows the president to send armed forces to fight terrorism on foreign territories.

    Russian President Dmitry Medvedev submitted the bill to parliament on Aug. 10, days after the first anniversary of a brief war with Georgia last year.

    Russia and Georgia fought a five-day war when Georgia tried to retake South Ossetia, which, together with Abkhazia, broke away from Georgia during a war in the 1990s that followed the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

    In response, Moscow sent in troops to drive Georgian forces out of the region and recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states two weeks after the conflict ended.