Ten people were arrested and will be charged soon in connection with the murder of the Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was killed last year, Russian media reported.

"We have made serious progress in this case," Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika told President Vladimir Putin in televised remarks.

"As of today, 10 people have been arrested, and literally in the nearest future they will be charged with the commission of this grave crime."

Chaika did not identify those arrested. His remarks were the first announcement of arrests in the October 7 killing, which Western governments have urged Russian authorities to solve. The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists said 13 journalists have been killed in contract-style murders since Putin took office in 2000.

Politkovskaya, who criticized harshly President Putin's politics and exposed human rights abuses in Chechnya, was shot dead in her Moscow apartment building in October.

Her killing drew international attention, compounding concern about the safety of journalists and Kremlin critics in Russia.

Politkovskaya's killing came less than two months before the radiation poisoning death in London of Kremlin critic and former Russian security agent Alexander Litvinenko. On his deathbed it was exactly Putin, whom Litvinenko blamed.

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