MOSCOW -- The lower house of the Russian parliament endorsed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty today, strengthening acting President Vladimir Putin's hand on arms control six weeks before a summit with President Clinton.

It was the second major arms control victory for Putin in a week, and foreign policy analysts took it as a fresh sign of his desire that Russia reestablish itself as a player on the global stage after years of increasing isolation.

The treaty, adopted 298 to 74 in a closed vote in the State Duma, would ban all nuclear test explosions. It includes a strict monitoring program and is considered, along with the START II nuclear arms reduction treaty ratified by the Duma last week, a key means of halting the spread of nuclear weapons. The document now goes to the Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, which is expected to adopt it quickly.

The treaty, which has been signed by 155 nations, will become effective once the 44 nations that have nuclear capabilities ratify it. Of those nations, the United States and 14 others have not done so.

The U.S. Senate failed to ratify the test ban treaty last year, dealing a major political setback to Clinton and putting the United States in a class with China, India, Pakistan and North Korea.

In the eyes of the Russian officials, that made Putin's success today all the brighter.

"The ratification of the nuclear test ban treaty puts Russia in a pretty strong position," said Sergei Rogov, director of the Institute for the Study of the United States and Canada. "It is impossible now to blame Russia for not delivering on what was promised. The ball is now in the U.S.'s court. This is something rather unusual in U.S.-Russian relations. Usually the U.S. has the initiative."

In Washington, Clinton praised the Duma's action, describing ratification as "an important step toward a safer future" and saying that it "renews momentum for the international effort to halt the spread of nuclear weapons and promote disarmament around the world."

Russian ratification "shows that entry of the treaty into force is still within reach, and the Senate cannot afford to set it on the shelf," said Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers. Noting that the Senate was the only legislature to defeat the treaty, Kimball said that the Duma's approval "puts into sharp focus how the failure of the Senate last fall to approve the treaty makes the United States something of a nonproliferation rogue state."

A senior State Department official, however, said it was unlikely that the treaty would come to a vote in the Senate again this year. Clinton has asked Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to assist in persuading the Senate to ratify the treaty.

Both Washington and Moscow have observed nuclear test moratoriums since the early 1990s.

Putin "wants to show that Russia can initiate its own moves, and that is refreshing," said Andrei Kortunov, a foreign policy analyst with a Moscow think tank. "For so many years, Russian foreign policy has been simply reactive, and now we see glimpses of a new approach" that sharply contrasts with the protracted battles waged by Putin's predecessor, Boris Yeltsin.

Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said the Duma's vote should be seen as "a serious claim by the new Russian leadership to an active foreign policy in the field of disarmament." Gennady Raikov, head of a pro-Kremlin group of legislators, urged his colleagues to seize the lead on arms control. "Why do we have to wait until America ratifies it, or Israel or China?" he demanded. "We should be conducting an independent policy."

The vote comes one week after the Duma approved the START II treaty following seven years of delays. That treaty, ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1996, commits each side to cut its nuclear arsenal to between 3,000 and 3,500 warheads each, or about half the number allowed by START I.

Putin had personally promised Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright that he would try to pass START II, and its adoption--together with that of the nuclear test ban treaty--bolsters his image as a leader who keeps his commitments.

"He might promise less than his predecessor, but he delivers more," Kortunov said.

The legislative successes also enhance Russia's position for upcoming negotiations on arms control. Moscow is pushing for START III talks, hoping to cut the number of warheads to 1,500, the highest level the government can afford to maintain in its deteriorating arsenal. The United States has suggested ceilings as high as 2,500.

The Clinton administration also badly wants to amend the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty that aimed to stabilize the arms race by barring the development of systems to defend against long-range missile attacks. Administration officials say the United States needs a national defense system to protect itself against "rogue" countries such as North Korea and Iraq; Russia has threatened to renege on START II if Washington goes ahead with that plan.

The parliamentary votes seemed timed to Foreign Minister Ivanov's trip to New York next week for a conference on nonproliferation, followed by meetings with U.S. officials in Washington.

Putin also won backing today from Russia's Security Council for a new national military doctrine that slightly broadens the possible scenarios under which Russia would use nuclear weapons. The doctrine was drafted last year, and foreign policy experts said today that it already seems dated in its reflection of Russia's apprehension about Western intentions.