Russia is warning of negative consequences if Ukraine and Georgia join the NATO defense alliance. The prediction comes on a day of one-on-one meetings between Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and most leaders of countries that were once part of the Soviet Union. The meetings came on the sidelines of a yearly economic forum in Saint Petersburg.
俄罗斯对乌克兰和格鲁吉亚发出警告，如果这两个国家加入北约组织，将造成不良后果。俄罗斯总统梅德韦杰夫在与大部分前苏联加盟共和国领导人举行面对面会晤时发出上述警告。这些会晤是在圣彼德堡举行的年度经济论坛期间进行的。
Before heading behind closed doors for meetings with Kremlin leader Dmitri Medvedev, the presidents of Ukraine and Georgia hinted publicly at Moscow's strained relations with Kyiv and Tbilisi. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said many issues have accumulated and need to be discussed between the two countries. Georgia leader Mikhail Saakashvili also spoke of numerous problems, noting optimistically, however, that none of them are insoluble given the presence of good will.
在与俄罗斯总统梅德韦杰夫举行闭门会晤之前，乌克兰和格鲁吉亚总统都公开暗示，莫斯科与基辅和第比利斯的关系紧张。乌克兰总统尤先科说，两国间累积了许多问题，有必要进行磋商。格鲁吉亚领导人萨卡什维利也谈到了一系列问题，不过他乐观地表示，由于双方都抱有良好的愿望，没有什么问题不能解决。
Moscow is particularly concerned about Georgian and Ukrainian moves to join NATO. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters that Georgian membership in the alliance would create a spiral of confrontation in Abkhazia, a separatist region of Georgia that is supported by Russia.
莫斯科特别关注乌克兰和格鲁吉亚加入北约组织的意向。俄罗斯外长拉夫罗夫对记者说，格鲁吉亚加入北约将引发阿布哈兹地区出现一系列对抗行动。阿布哈兹是一个争取脱离格鲁吉亚的地区，得到俄罗斯的支持。
Lavrov says Dmitri Medvedev warned President Yushchenko that Ukraine's NATO membership would violate a friendship treaty between the two countries. He linked the treaty to another agreement governing the presence of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol on Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.
拉夫罗夫说，梅德韦杰夫总统警告尤先科，乌克兰加入北约将违反两国的友好条约。他还把这个友好条约与另一项有关驻扎在乌克兰塞瓦斯托波尔半岛的俄罗斯黑海舰队的相关协议联系起来。
Lavrov says unresolved issues concerning the fleet cannot be substituted by unilateral moves. The agreement, he says, provides for possible extension of the fleet's presence, and that preparing for a withdrawal nine years before its lease expires is not the approach Russia would like to see in its partners.
拉夫罗夫说，与舰队有关的悬而未决的问题不可能被单方面行动所替代。他说，根据这项协议，舰队的驻扎时间有可能延长。俄罗斯不愿意看到自己的夥伴在距离合约期满还有9年的时候就要求舰队撤离。
Russia is required to vacate the base in Sevastopol in 2017 and considers Ukrainian preparations for the Russian departure to be premature. The Interfax News Agency says President Yushchenko told journalists in Saint Petersburg that Ukraine will fulfill its side of the fleet agreement to the last letter.
该条约规定俄罗斯在2017年撤出塞瓦斯托波尔半岛基地。俄罗斯认为乌克兰准备让俄罗斯舰队离开是不成熟的做法。俄罗斯国际文传通讯社报导说，乌克兰总统尤先科在圣彼得堡对记者说，乌克兰将严格遵守舰队协议对乌克兰规定的义务。
The Russian Foreign Ministry has not rejected a recent statement by Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, that Sevastopol and Crimea should belong to Russia, more than 50 years after the Kremlin transferred the area to Ukraine.
Russian-Ukrainian tensions over NATO and the fleet were accompanied by news announced by Sergei Lavrov that Ukraine will be hit with a nearly 100 percent hike in the price of gas on January first. Lavrov said President Yushchenko was told the reason is that Central Asian countries, which supply gas to Ukraine via Russia, will begin charging European prices.
俄罗斯和乌克兰除了在北约和黑海舰队问题上关系紧张外，俄罗斯外长拉夫罗夫还宣布，从1月1号起，向乌克兰提供的天然气的价格将上涨将近100%。拉夫罗夫说，尤先科总统被告知，天然气价格上涨是因为经由俄罗斯向乌克兰提供天然气的中亚国家开始收取与欧洲国家一样的价格。
The Russian diplomat says the Ukrainian leader responded by saying the sooner his country switches to market prices, the better its economy will be. Lavrov agrees. So does Vasyl Yablonsky, an analyst at the National Institute of Strategic Studies in Kyiv, who told VOA there is logic to higher energy prices for Ukraine.
拉夫罗夫说，乌克兰领导人回应说，乌克兰越早实行市场价格，经济就会越好。拉夫罗夫对尤先科的观点表示赞同。基辅国家战略研究所的分析人士亚布隆斯基也对上述说法表示认同。他对美国之音说，乌克兰能源价格上涨有它的道理。
Yablonsky says the longer Ukraine gets subsidized gas, the longer it will be obligated to return the favor to Russia either politically or economically. He says market prices will also encourage more efficiency and use of energy saving technologies.
亚布隆斯基说，乌克兰得到补贴的天然气供应越久，在政治上或经济上回报俄罗斯的时间就越长。他说，市场价格还会鼓励使用更高效和节能的技术。
Mr. Medvedev's other presidential meetings, held in the ornate Konstantin Palace near Saint Petersburg, seemed less tense. He spoke of Russia's key strategic partnership with Uzbekistan with that country's president, Islam Karimov. The leader of Turkmenistan touted his country's reliable energy partnership with Moscow. And Moldova's President Vladimir Voronin announced that two paintings stolen from the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg have been found and will be returned.
另一方面，俄罗斯总统梅德韦杰夫在圣彼得堡郊外华丽的康斯坦丁宫与另外一些前苏联加盟共和国总统的会晤看来没有那么紧张。他和乌兹别克斯坦总统卡里莫夫谈到乌兹别克斯坦与俄罗斯的关键战略夥伴关系。土库曼斯坦总统盛赞土库曼斯坦与俄罗斯可靠的能源夥伴关系。摩尔多瓦总统沃罗宁宣布，两幅从圣彼得堡的艾尔米塔什博物馆偷走的油画已经找到，很快会归还。 |