美国国家公共电台 NPR--Results of sham annexation votes in 4 occupied regions of Ukraine may be known soon

Results of sham¹ annexation³ votes in 4 occupied regions of Ukraine may be known soon

Transcript⁴

NPR's A Martinez talks to Thomas de Waal of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace about Russian-organized annexation votes that Ukraine's allies say violate international law.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

The results of Russia's annexation vote in four occupied regions of Ukraine may soon be announced. The whole process has been labeled a sham by Kyiv and the West. There are reports of people being forced to vote at gunpoint. Now, this is not a new tactic⁵ for the Kremlin. It followed a similar plan when it annexed⁶ Crimea in 2014. We're joined now by Thomas de Waal. He's a Russian affairs expert and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is in Vienna this morning. Thomas, this all appears to be the same playbook that Russia used in Crimea. Are there any significant differences that you see?

THOMAS DE WAAL: It's absolutely the same playbook as we saw in Crimea in 2014. The only difference is that I would say this is even worse. Crimea was relatively⁷ peaceful at that point. The Russians basically took it over without a shot being fired and it had a large Russian population. That doesn't justify⁸ holding that referendum back there. But this is even more outrageous⁹. This is four areas of Ukraine which - with a war going on and a referendum, which was just dreamed up literally¹⁰ a couple of weeks ago for those places to become part of Russia. And no one is taking it seriously. I mean, eventually the Russians persuaded a few friendly states like, you know, Cuba and Syria to recognize the Crimea referendum back then. But now even relatively friendly states like Kazakhstan are saying that they won't recognize the results of this.

MART?NEZ: So how do we measure, then, it succeeding? Because they've staged these referendums to try and annex² close to 15% of Ukraine's territory. So, I mean, will it still be considered a success maybe just to Vladimir Putin?

DE WAAL: Well, I think he's - clearly, Vladimir Putin is not expecting that anyone is going to recognize these referendums internationally. So it's clearly aimed at two audiences or maybe three audiences, Ukraine and the Western countries and also the Russian public. I think obviously he had a grave setback¹² when he lost momentum¹³ and lost all that territory they'd captured early in September around the Kharkiv area. And I guess President Putin is trying to regain¹⁴ the initiative, both on the military front with the mobilization cool and on the political front by saying we're not going to give up on these territories that we've captured earlier and, indeed, we're going to absorb them into Russia.

MART?NEZ: Is there any way to glean¹⁵ that maybe what you just mentioned, him - with troops, the additional troops that he's bringing in and this referendum, that he is somehow in trouble in Russia?

DE WAAL: I think it's fair to say he's in trouble. I think we should temper our expectations. I don't think we should expect, you know, a palace coup¹¹ or the downfall of Mr. Putin soon. But clearly, things are not going to plan, that the plan, you know, was - that this would all be over. It would be a special operation, as he calls it, and not a war. It would be over. They would, you know, decapitate the government in Kyiv and basically have control the whole of Ukraine.

So things are going pretty badly. And I think the dangerous thing now is this mobilization for Mr. Putin. There was a kind of social contract that he's always had, that he's a kind of dictator by consensus¹⁶, that the public supports him, but he doesn't touch certain aspects of their life. And I would guess that, you know, some of the opinion pollsters suggest that around half of the population in Russia supports the war but doesn't really want to get involved, as it were. They kind of support it sitting in front of their TV screens.

And what we've now seen with this mobilization is it coming into people's families, relatives being called up who thought that they, you know, they'd done their military service and, you know, done their duty, and now it's coming into their homes. And that's where it does - he begins to lose popularity. That doesn't mean he falls, but it means he's more vulnerable amongst the elite¹⁷. And in certain places in Russia, obviously, there is some - beginning to be some active resistance to this.

MART?NEZ: Any insight into how Russia's being viewed in the four occupied areas?

DE WAAL: Very hard to say, obviously, because they're basically under a kind of information blockade. These are all areas which, you know, a lot of people spoke¹⁸ Russian. It was their main language at home. A lot of people had relatives in Russia. So not necessarily an anti-Russian place before. But I think the war has changed that. I think, you know, the behavior of the Russian army, the bombardment and so on, has made people in these areas, by all accounts, you know, remember that they're Ukrainians and be grateful to be Ukrainians. So, you know, we shouldn't say that nobody in these areas wants to be part of Russia, but it's surely a strong minority. And this is why we're hearing reports of people, you know, soldiers going house to house, handing people ballot¹⁹ papers, you know, basically trying to force some kind of result in a rather grotesque²⁰ manner out of the local population.

MART?NEZ: And one more thing, Thomas, quickly, considering how maybe Russia or Russian citizens are now kind of rebelling against Vladimir Putin in some way and how the rest of the world won't see his annexation as legitimate²¹, is there any fear of escalation²² to the point where nuclear weapons would be involved? Is that something we legitimately²³ need to worry about?

DE WAAL: I think we definitely have to worry about escalation. I couldn't comment on the nuclear issue. That's obviously incredibly dangerous. But something we could watch out for is the Russians attacking Ukrainian critical infrastructure²⁴, you know, trying to deprive whole towns and cities of water and electricity and causing a new refugee flow in the winter. That would be very dangerous indeed.

MART?NEZ: Thomas de Waal is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Thomas, thanks.

DE WAAL: Thank you.

1 sham   

n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的)

参考例句：

• They cunningly played the game of sham peace.他们狡滑地玩弄假和平的把戏。
• His love was a mere sham.他的爱情是虚假的。

2 annex   

vt.兼并，吞并；n.附属建筑物

参考例句：

• It plans to annex an England company in order to enlarge the market.它计划兼并一家英国公司以扩大市场。
• The annex has been built on to the main building.主楼配建有附属的建筑物。

3 annexation   

n.吞并，合并

参考例句：

• He mentioned the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910 .他提及1910年日本对朝鲜的吞并。
• I regard the question of annexation as belonging exclusively to the United States and Texas.我认为合并的问题，完全属于德克萨斯和美国之间的事。

4 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

5 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

6 annexed   

[法] 附加的，附属的

参考例句：

• Germany annexed Austria in 1938. 1938年德国吞并了奥地利。
• The outlying villages were formally annexed by the town last year. 那些偏远的村庄于去年正式被并入该镇。

7 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

8 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

9 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

10 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

11 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

12 setback   

n.退步，挫折，挫败

参考例句：

• Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
• She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。

13 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

14 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

15 glean   

v.收集(消息、资料、情报等)

参考例句：

• The little information that we could glean about them was largely contradictory.我们能够收集到的有关它们的少量信息大部分是自相矛盾的。
• From what I was able to glean,it appears they don't intend to take any action yet.根据我所收集到的资料分析，他们看来还不打算采取任何行动。

16 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

17 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

18 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

19 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

20 grotesque   

adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物）

参考例句：

• His face has a grotesque appearance.他的面部表情十分怪。
• Her account of the incident was a grotesque distortion of the truth.她对这件事的陈述是荒诞地歪曲了事实。

21 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

22 escalation   

n.扩大，增加

参考例句：

• The threat of nuclear escalation remains. 核升级的威胁仍旧存在。 来自辞典例句
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。 来自辞典例句

23 legitimately   

ad.合法地；正当地，合理地

参考例句：

• The radio is legitimately owned by the company. 该电台为这家公司所合法拥有。
• She looked for nothing save what might come legitimately and without the appearance of special favour. 她要的并不是男人们的额外恩赐，而是合法正当地得到的工作。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

24 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。