MOSCOW – Russia's lower house of parliament has given a preliminary approval to a US-Russian arms treaty.

Related readings:  US Senate passes nuclear arms treaty  US-Russia arms pact 'set to pass'  Obama pushes Senate to support arms treaty with Russia

The State Duma voted 350-58 on Friday to approve the New START treaty in the first of three required readings. The legislators said they would proceed with the other two readings next month.

Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the State Duma's foreign affairs committee, said the full ratification could only happen next month "at the earliest."

The New START treaty, which was ratified Wednesday by the US Senate, would limit each country's strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550, down from the current ceiling of 2,200. It also would re-establish a system for monitoring and verification, which ended last year with the expiration of a previous arms control deal.