State Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov said the 450-seat chamber, dominated by the ruling United Russia party, could approve ratification of the New START treaty in a third and final vote on Jan. 25. The Duma voted preliminary approval last month.

The treaty, signed by Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama in April, will commit the Cold War foes to lower limits on the numbers of strategic nuclear weapons.

The US Senate voted its approval last month, and lawmakers in Russia’s upper chamber have said they will probably approve the treaty close on the heels of the Duma.

Analysts say rejection of the treaty by the Kremlin-controlled parliament is out of the question.

But Gryzlov stressed that lawmakers would make changes and additions to the ratification legislation, largely as a response to similar moves by US senators, with both sides setting out their interpretations of the pact. “This is the first time we are stretching the ratification (of a treaty) to three readings,” he said. “But we were forced to do so, as the US congress adopted certain remarks about the text signed by the two presidents.”

He said the Duma planned to add six articles to the ratification law and adopt two declarations about the treaty.

Gryzlov gave no details, but analysts say Russian lawamkers may stress that Moscow could withdraw from the pact if US missile defense plans threaten to weaken the effectiveness of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.

The treaty will cut long-range, strategic nuclear weapons deployed by Russia and the United States to no more than 1,550 on each side within seven years. Deployed missile launchers will be cut to no more than 700 on each side.

The agreement also creates an inspection and verification process to replace the one that expired with the 1991 START accord in December 2009.