奧巴馬同意與普京在紐約舉行會晤
President Barack Obama has agreed to meet Vladimir Putin in New York to discuss Syria and Ukraine, bringing to an end a year-long effort by the White House to diplomatically isolate the Russian president.
美國總統巴拉克攠巴馬(Barack Obama)同意在紐約與俄羅斯總統弗拉基米爾渠京(Vladimir Putin)會晤，討論敘利亞和烏克蘭問題，這將爲美國政府對普京長達一年的外交孤立畫上句號。
The Obama administration has decided that the importance of a face-to-face meeting with Mr Putin to discuss the Syrian conflict outweighs the risk that Mr Obama will appear to be relaxing his criticism of Russian actions in Ukraine.
奧巴馬政府斷定，與普京面對面討論敘利亞衝突意義重大，就算會被外界認爲奧巴馬在放鬆對俄在烏行動的批評，也應舉行這次會晤。
The two leaders will both be in New York on Monday for the UN General Assembly. The meeting follows Russia’s recent move to establish an air base in north-western Syria together with fighter jets, anti-aircraft missiles and a significant number of Russian military personnel.
兩位領導人都將於下週一出席聯合國大會(UN General Assembly)。俄最近已採取行動，在敘利亞西北部建立了一個空軍基地，並部署了戰鬥機、防空導彈和大量俄軍事人員。
A senior Obama administration official said the meeting would take place at the “request of President Putin”. The official added: “Despite our profound differences with Moscow, the president believes that it would be irresponsible not to test whether we can make progress through high-level engagement with the Russians.” The Kremlin also confirmed the meeting.
奧巴馬政府一位高官表示，此次會晤是應“普京總統的要求”舉行的。這位官員補充稱：“儘管我們與莫斯科方面存在深刻分歧，但奧巴馬總統認爲，如果不去嘗試一下我們能否通過與俄展開高層接觸來取得進展，將是不負責任的。”俄羅斯政府也證實將舉行此次會晤。
With the conflict in eastern Ukraine relatively quiet at present, the Russian government has repeatedly appealed to Washington for more communication about the Syria crisis and has cast Mr Putin as a responsible leader who would do his best to settle issues of global significance with the US president.
目前烏克蘭東部衝突相對平靜，俄羅斯政府已多次呼籲美國政府與之就敘利亞危機展開更多溝通，並稱普京是一位負責任的領導人、會盡最大努力與奧巴馬解決全球重大問題。
At the very least, the meeting will represent a propaganda victory for Mr Putin, who would like to weaken western support for Ukraine-related sanctions on the Russian economy. However, US secretary of state John Kerry is keen to explore the potential for a dialogue with Russia about a political solution to the Syrian civil war.
對普京來說，此次會晤至少將代表着在宣傳方面取得的一次勝利。普京希望削弱西方對與烏克蘭有關的對俄經濟制裁的支持。不過，美國國務卿約翰克里(John Kerry)也希望探索有無可能通過與俄展開對話來求得敘利亞內戰的政治解決方案。
Foreign policy experts close to the Kremlin said on Thursday they believed the UN General Assembly offered a chance for bringing the US closer to the Russian position on Syria. But some analysts say Mr Putin’s ultimate goal is domestic as he needs a new boost to underpin public support ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections and presidential elections in 2018.
與俄政府關係密切的外交政策專家週四表示，他們認爲此次聯合國大會爲美向俄在敘利亞問題上的立場靠攏提供了一個機會。但一些分析人士表示，普京其實着眼的是國內——他需要鼓舞人心的新政績來在明年議會選舉和2018年總統選舉前鞏固民意支持率。
