Moscow ? Russia and the United States have a good chance of reaching a new nuclear arms reduction deal before year’s end, but other nuclear powers must join disarmament efforts, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in remarks released Saturday.

Medvedev also told Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine he has been working well with his predecessor Vladimir Putin, and predictions of a rift between him and Putin — widely seen as pulling the strings in Russia — are overblown. The Kremlin released a transcript of the comments.

“No one must have any doubts that our ‘tandem’ has been working quite harmoniously,” Medvedev said. “As you can see, predictions that we will have a falling out so far have failed to materialize.”

The U.S.-Russian arms control talks are moving at a good pace, Medvedev said.