俄羅斯志願者戰士渴望打擊ISIS
Bondo Dorovskikh is ready. “Since childhood I have been dreaming about going to war, but things never really worked out,” says the Russian businessman. “Now, in Syria, we are needed.”
邦多多羅夫斯基赫(Bondo Dorovskikh)已經準備好了。“我從小的夢想就是當兵打仗，但從未真正實現過。”這位俄羅斯商人說，“如今，在敘利亞，我們有用武之地了。”
Last year, Mr Dorovskikh went to eastern Ukraine to Fight as a volunteer alongside pro-Russian separatists in the self-declared Lugansk People’s Republic, but he returned in December. “They had told us that we were coming to the rescue of the Russian population, to fight the fascists, but it wasn’t like they told it on TV,” he says. “The enemy there was not real, and the local population didn’t support us.”
去年，多羅夫斯基赫曾前往烏克蘭東部，作爲一名志願者戰士在自封的“盧甘斯克人民共和國”(Lugansk People’s Republic)與親俄羅斯的分裂分子並肩作戰，但在12月他返回了俄羅斯。“他們曾告訴我們，我們是來拯救俄羅斯人、抗擊法西斯分子的，但現實並不像他們在電視中所講述的那樣。”他說，“那裏沒有真正的敵人，當地人也不支持我們。”
On his return to Moscow, the 41-year-old found what he thinks is a worthier cause: fighting the Islamist radicals of Isis. Since April, he has been liaising with former Donbass fighters and other Russian men keen to volunteer, and searching for ways to join the Syrian war through international volunteer units fighting alongside Kurdish formations.
回到莫斯科後，41歲的多羅夫斯基赫找到了一項他認爲更有價值的事業：抗擊“伊拉克和黎凡特伊斯蘭國”(ISIS)的伊斯蘭激進分子。自今年4月以來，他一直在聯絡曾在烏克蘭頓巴斯呆過的戰友以及其他渴望志願參戰的俄羅斯人，並試圖通過與庫爾德武裝並肩作戰的國際志願兵組織設法加入敘利亞戰爭。
Igor Girkin, the Russian former commander of separatist fighters in Donbass, claimed last week some Russians had already gone to Syria straight from eastern Ukraine. And Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Chechen Republic, has repeatedly declared his readiness to send Chechen fighters to Syria as well.
曾擔任頓巴斯分裂武裝指揮官的俄羅斯人伊戈爾吉爾金(Igor Girkin)最近稱，一些俄羅斯人已從烏克蘭東部直接奔赴了敘利亞。車臣共和國領導人拉姆贊慍德羅夫(Ramzan Kadyrov)也一再宣稱自己已準備好將車臣武裝人員派往敘利亞。
In the Ukraine conflict, volunteer fighters have been a central part of Russia’s now-notorious hybrid war. Incited by a propaganda campaign which spoke of the need to protect fellow Russians from “fascists”, they poured into Donbass by the thousands, thus helping obscure the activity of special forces, regular troops without insignia and Chechen units who played a leading role in inciting and organising the war.
在烏克蘭衝突中，志願者戰士一直是現已臭名昭著的俄羅斯混合戰爭(hybrid war)的中心部分。在聲稱需要保護俄羅斯同胞免遭“法西斯分子”迫害的宣傳攻勢的煽動下，成千上萬的志願者戰士涌入了頓巴斯，他們的存在幫助掩蓋那些在煽動、組織這場戰爭中發揮了主導作用的未戴徽章的特種部隊、正規部隊以及車臣部隊的活動。
Therefore, talk about Russian volunteers heading to Syria rings alarm bells among those who believe Moscow might broaden its intervention from the air strikes it started on September 30 to a covert ground operation. But the Syrian war is very different, and volunteers are extremely unlikely to play a key role.
因此，有俄羅斯志願者戰士在奔赴敘利亞的傳聞在一部人中間敲響了警鐘，他們認爲莫斯科可能會將對敘利亞的干預從9月30日開始的空襲擴大到進行祕密地面行動。但敘利亞戰爭與烏克蘭危機迥然不同，志願者戰士極爲不可能發揮關鍵作用。
Most importantly, the personal and emotional ties many Russians have with Ukraine are absent in the Syrian conflict. “In Ukraine, it appeared logical to many that ethnic Russians needed support because so many people in our country have friends or family there, and the propaganda line that it was a fight against ‘fascists’ was in line with beliefs about Ukrainian nationalists that are widespread in Russia,” says Lev Gudkov, head of Levada Center, the independent pollster. “But nothing like that exists with Syria.”
最重要的是，許多俄羅斯人對敘利亞衝突沒有他們對烏克蘭的那種私人與情感紐帶。“我們國家有那麼多人在烏克蘭有朋友或親戚，並且打擊“法西斯分子”的宣傳口號也與俄羅斯人關於烏克蘭民族主義者的普遍看法相符，因此就烏克蘭而言，那裏的俄羅斯族裔需要支持的說法在很多人看來合乎邏輯。”獨立民調機構列瓦達中心(Levada Center)負責人列夫古德科夫(Lev Gudkov)說，“但在敘利亞，不存在這層關係。”
There are, of course, war aficionados like Mr Dorovskikh. Born in Tadjikistan with one Russian and one Georgian parent, into a family of soldiers and Afghanistan war veterans, he says his relatives declared him crazy when he went to eastern Ukraine. “In Donbass, there were about 40,000 of us; to Syria you could probably get a brigade, up to 1,500 fighters, if it’s well-organised,” he says. But even those men face huge financial and logistical hurdles.
當然，還有像多羅夫斯基赫這樣的好戰分子。羅夫斯基赫出生在塔吉克斯坦，父母分別是俄羅斯人和格魯吉亞人，家族中有不少軍人和參加過阿富汗戰爭的老兵。他說，當他去了烏克蘭東部時，親戚們都說他瘋了。“在頓巴斯，大約有4萬名像我這樣的志願軍戰士；到了敘利亞，如果組織得力的話，或許可以組建一個旅，最多可達1500名戰士，”他說。但即使這些人也面臨着巨大的財務和後勤困難。
Travel costs from Russia to Syria alone are about Rbs30,000 ($485), and fighters’ living expenses are about $200 a month. In Ukraine, many of these costs were met by donations; this seems unlikely to be replicated for Syria.
光是從俄羅斯到敘利亞的路費就要約3萬盧布（合485美元），還有每名戰士每月約200美元的生活費。在烏克蘭，這些開銷大部分由捐款負擔，但在敘利亞，這種方式似乎不大可能行得通。
It is also unclear if their presence would be welcomed, either by fighters or by the government. Three other men active in Russian online groups focusing on the Syrian war told the FT they had been trying for months to join that war.
還不清楚他們的到來是否會受到反對派武裝分子或是敘利亞政府的歡迎。關注敘利亞戰爭的俄羅斯網絡組織的另外3名活躍人士向英國《金融時報》表示，他們已經嘗試加入這場戰爭數月而未果。
“I wrote to the Syrian embassy but didn’t even get an answer,” says one.
“我曾致信敘利亞大使館，但連回信都沒收到，”其中一人說。
One group of volunteer hopefuls even sent a letter to the Russian defence ministry asking for help. The letter included a proposal to fly them to Syria in military transport aircraft, and an offer to pay for the lift with money from donations. They too received no response.
一個由希望成爲志願者戰士的人組成的組織甚至致函俄羅斯國防部尋求幫助。信中提議使用軍用運輸機把他們空運至敘利亞，並提出用捐款資金支付旅費。他們也未收到迴應。
“Fighting with the Kurds is [now] the only option,” says Mr Dorovskikh. He says he contacted the Peshmerga International Detachment (IDET), a combat unit staffed by foreigners that fights with the Kurdish militia in Iraq, as well as an international unit fighting with Kurdish militia in Syria, and expected to go to Syria via northern Iraq with a group of around 20 others within weeks. Contacted by the FT, IDET said it had no Russian members at present and could neither confirm nor deny whether Russian volunteers were joining the unit.
“與庫爾德人並肩作戰是（現在）唯一的選擇，”多羅夫斯基赫說。他說自己聯繫上了“自由戰士國際分遣隊”（Peshmerga International Detachment，一個由在伊拉克與庫爾德民兵並肩作戰的外國人組成的戰鬥組織，同時也是一個在敘利亞與庫爾德民兵並肩戰鬥的國際組織），他希望在幾周內與其他約20個人一起，取道伊拉克北部進入敘利亞。英國《金融時報》聯繫上該組織，後者稱目前沒有俄羅斯籍成員，但也無法確認或否認是否有俄羅斯志願者戰士正在加入該組織。
If Mr Dorovskikh and his friends succeed, they might well end up fighting alongside the US-led international coalition, which Moscow opposes. “We are told by the Peshmerga volunteers that we will be given training along Nato lines, and we will have to buy uniforms that fit Nato standards — that’s one reason it’s so expensive,” says Mr Dorovskikh. He is undeterred by the fact that he would be allied with the west. “We are independent,” he says. “As long as we are fighting against Isis, everything is fine.”
如果多羅夫斯基赫和他的夥伴們成功進入敘利亞，他們可能最終將與以美國爲首的國際聯軍並肩作戰，而後者正是莫斯科反對的。“‘自由戰士’的志願者戰士告訴我們，我們將接受北約(NATO)式訓練，我們必須購買符合北約標準的制服——這是開銷如此昂貴的原因之一，”多羅夫斯基赫說。他並未因爲將要與西方結盟而畏縮。“我們是獨立的，”他說，“只要我們能打擊ISIS，一切都好說。”
It remains to be seen whether the Russian government sees it the same way. Last Monday, Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, head of the armed forces committee in the Duma, the lower house of parliament, said Russian volunteers were likely to appear among the ranks of the Syrian army, and those willing to go could not be stopped. But a day later, he said it was out of the question that Russians would fight in a ground operation in Syria. He added: “To the best of my knowledge, Russians trying to get to Syria, Libya or Iraq to fight there are being stopped by the relevant Russian authorities, and rightly so.”
俄羅斯政府是否也這樣認爲還有待觀察。最近，海軍上將、俄杜馬（下議院）國防委員會主席科弗拉基米爾科莫耶多夫(Vladimir Komoyedov)表示，俄羅斯志願者戰士可能出現在敘利亞軍隊中，那些想去的人無法阻攔。但一天後，他又改口稱，俄羅斯絕不可能在敘利亞進行地面作戰。他補充說：“據我所知，試圖進入敘利亞、利比亞或伊拉克境內參戰的俄羅斯人都被俄相關部門阻止了，這樣做是正確的。”
