MOSCOW (AP) - A powerful earthquake has hit Russia's Far East with slight tremors spreading westwards as far as Moscow.

Ms Marina Kolomiyets, spokeswoman for Obninsk's seismic station of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said on Friday the epicentre was in the Sea of Okhotsk, east of the Russian coast and north of Japan. She said the quake registered 8.0 on the Richter scale.

Emergency agencies in the Far East issued a tsunami warning for Sakhalin and the Kuril islands, but lifted it soon afterwards.

Ms Kolomiyets said the earthquake originated 600 km underground and with the tremors so far down they have the potential to spread quite far.

Tremors were felt in central Moscow, prompting some people to evacuate from buildings.

Russian news agencies also cited eyewitnesses reporting strong tremors across Siberia.