VOA标准英语2008年-Russia Warns Ukraine, Georgia Over Seeking NATO

By Peter Fedynsky
Moscow
06 June 2008

Russia is warning of negative consequences if Ukraine and Georgia join the NATO defense¹ 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 Soviet² Union. The meetings came on the sidelines of a yearly economic forum³ in Saint Petersburg. VOA Moscow Correspondent Peter Fedynsky has this report.
　

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev (Georgian flag in background) at meeting of CIS leaders near St. Petersburg, 6 June 2008

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 spoke⁴ of numerous problems, noting optimistically, however, that none of them are insoluble given the presence of good will.

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 confrontation⁵ in Abkhazia, a separatist region of Georgia that is supported by Russia.

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.

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 withdrawal⁶ nine years before its lease expires is not the approach Russia would like to see in its partners.

Russia is required to vacate the base in Sevastopol in 2017 and considers Ukrainian preparations for the Russian departure to be premature⁷. The Interfax News Agency says President Yushchenko told journalists in Saint Petersburg that Ukraine will fulfill⁸ its side of the fleet agreement to the last letter.

The Russian Foreign Ministry⁹ 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.

The Russian diplomat¹⁰ 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 analyst¹¹ at the National Institute of Strategic Studies in Kyiv, who told VOA there is logic¹² to higher energy prices for Ukraine.

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.

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 partnership¹³ with Uzbekistan with that country's president, Islam Karimov. The leader of Turkmenistan touted¹⁴ 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.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

3 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

4 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。

5 confrontation   

n.对抗，对峙，冲突

参考例句：

• We can't risk another confrontation with the union.我们不能冒再次同工会对抗的危险。
• After years of confrontation,they finally have achieved a modus vivendi.在对抗很长时间后，他们最后达成安宁生存的非正式协议。

6 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

7 premature   

adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的

参考例句：

• It is yet premature to predict the possible outcome of the dialogue.预言这次对话可能有什么结果为时尚早。
• The premature baby is doing well.那个早产的婴儿很健康。

8 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。

9 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

10 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

11 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

12 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

13 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

14 touted   

v.兜售( tout的过去式和过去分词 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报

参考例句：

• She's being touted as the next leader of the party. 她被吹捧为该党的下一任领导人。
• People said that he touted for his mother and sister. 据说，他给母亲和姐姐拉生意。 来自辞典例句