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 yesterday.

Mr. 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 Mr. 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," Mr. 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, Mr. Medvedev said.But he sounded less upbeat about the prospect of the complete abolition of nuclear weapons.

Russia and the United States both say they are committed to negotiating a successor deal to their 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. That arms reduction treaty has gradually slashed both sides' arsenals but is set to expire Dec. 5.

In July, U.S. President Barack Obama and Mr. Medvedev agreed that the current talks should reach an accord to reduce both countries' arsenals to between 1,500 and 1,675 nuclear weapons within seven years.

Mr. Medvedev told Der Spiegel that other nuclear powers have been reluctant to join in disarmament efforts.

"A nuclear-free world is our shared ideal for which we must aspire, but a road to that is difficult," he said. "It takes not just the United States and Russia renouncing nuclear weapons, but other countries as well."

Mr. Medvedev also told Der Spiegel that Russia could back sanctions against Iran if it fails to take a constructive stance in international talks over its nuclear program.

The statement echoed Mr. Medvedev's earlier comments.

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