時事新聞:美俄就削減核武器達成共識

【英文原文】

U.S., Russia Set Arms Treaty Goals

摘要：美國總統奧巴馬和俄羅斯總統梅德韋傑夫週一達成框架協議，將把雙方的戰略核武器削減至多三分之一，但他們還面臨着一系列困擾雙邊關係的棘手問題需要解決。

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev reached a framework agreement Monday to cut their strategic nuclear arsenals by as much as a third, but they left open a host of issues vexing U.S.-Russian relations.

The two heads of state had a 'very useful and very open, businesslike conversation' -- as Mr. Medvedev put it -- on issues from Iran to Georgia to missile defense. Still, after a four-hour session, the leaders made it clear Mr. Obama has work to do to smooth over tensions when he delivers what aides call a major speech Tuesday to the Russian people on democracy, open society and the two countries' difficult relationship.

'We've had some frank discussions, and there are some areas where we still disagree,' Mr. Obama said, singling out Georgia, where tensions remain high after last year's war. As the presidents met Monday, Russian troops, tanks and warplanes conducted massive live-fire exercises just across the border from Georgia.

Still, the summit met the U.S. goal of fixing numerical targets for a nuclear arms reduction treaty that negotiators hope to conclude by Dec. 5. That is when the governing Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty expires. Under the agreement, deployed nuclear warheads targeted at each country would be reduced to between 1,500 and 1,675 over seven years from the current ceiling of 2,200. The cut is in line with negotiators' initial targets.

Nuclear weapons delivery systems would be reduced to between 500 and 1,100 from the current ceiling of 1,600. That wide gap reflects continued division over four U.S. Trident submarines, the entire U.S. B-1 bomber fleet and dozens of B-52s that have been either converted to release conventional weapons use or mothballed. The Russians want such 'phantom' nuclear delivery systems counted under the treaty's ceiling, further limiting active U.S. nuclear weapons launchers. Washington wants them ignored.

'Despite the fact that in several hours we cannot remove the burden of all the problems [between the countries], we have agreed that we will go forward without stopping,' Mr. Medvedev said.

At the midpoint of the two-day summit here, both sides could claim some victories and point to some concessions. Although Mr. Medvedev avoided citing Iran by name, White House officials said he was 'very forward leaning' in decrying the threat of an arms race in volatile regions of the world, an 'unambiguous' reference to Iran, said White House Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough. The two sides agreed to conduct a joint threat assessment of ballistic missile capabilities in the world.

Chief arms control negotiator Rose Gottemoeller said the Russians wanted a general statement on arms reduction, not numerical targets. Reaching agreement on numbers, she said, 'was a long and painful process.'

Mr. Obama also won Russian assent to allow overflight rights for military transports carrying 'lethal' war materiel to Afghanistan, a deal that paves the way for 4,500 flights a year and saving the U.S. $133 million a year in fuel and other transport costs. The U.S. and Russia agreed to resume military-to-military cooperation that was suspended since August 2008 in the wake of Russia's war with Georgia.

The Russians received assurance from Mr. Obama that offensive and defensive weapons systems would be considered together as negotiations go forward. That is a key concession on perhaps the biggest sticking point: U.S. plans to deploy missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic over fierce Russian objections. Michael McFaul, senior White House director for Russian affairs, stressed, however, that the administration is not abandoning the 'third site' in Eastern Europe.

More broadly, Mr. Medvedev used the nuclear weapons talks to thrust Russia back onto the world stage and try to assert a return to bipolar international relations. He spoke of cooperation between the two countries as 'important to world development.'

【中文譯文】

美國總統奧巴馬和俄羅斯總統梅德韋傑夫週一達成框架協議，將把雙方的戰略核武器削減至多三分之一，但他們還面臨着一系列困擾雙邊關係的棘手問題需要解決。

梅德韋傑夫說，兩國首腦在伊朗、格魯吉亞和反導等問題上進行了非常有益、非常坦誠的事務性對話。不過，在4小時的會談後，雙方領導人明確表示，奧巴馬週二向俄羅斯人就民主、社會開放和兩國困難的雙邊關係發表他助手所謂的重要講話時，他需要努力緩和兩國的緊張關係。

奧巴馬說，我們進行了坦率的交談，我們仍存在一些分歧。他特別提到了格魯吉亞，在去年的戰爭結束後，那裏的局勢依然緊張。在兩位元首週一舉行會談時，俄羅斯軍隊、坦克和戰機就在格魯吉亞邊界舉行大規模實彈演習。

不過，這次峯會達到了美國在削減核武器條約中確定數字指標的目的。雙方預計談判將在12月5日前完成。12月5日也是原削減戰略武器條約到期的日子。根據這項協議，每國針對對方部署的核彈頭將在7年內從目前2,200枚的上限減少到1,500至1,675枚之間。這個削減幅度同雙方的最初目標是一致的。

核武器運載系統將從目前1,600件的最高限額減少到500至1,100件。上下限之間的巨大差距反映出，雙方在已用於攜帶常規武器或已封存的美國四艘三叉戟潛艇、整個美國B-1轟炸機和數十架B-52轟炸機問題上，仍存在分歧。俄羅斯希望這種“幽靈”核武器運載系統能夠計入到條約規定的上限中，從而進一步限制美國仍在服役的核武器發射器數量。而華盛頓則希望不考慮這部分數量。

梅德韋傑夫說，儘管在幾個小時內我們不能消除兩國間存在的所有問題，但我們同意將一直繼續前進下去。

在爲期兩天的美、俄峯會日程過半之際，雙方都可以宣稱自己取得了一些勝利，並指出對方做出了一些讓步。白宮官員說，雖然梅德韋傑夫沒有指名道姓提到伊朗，但他在譴責世界動盪地區軍備競賽帶來的威脅方面是“非常直言不諱的”，用白宮副國家安全顧問麥克唐納(Denis McDonough)的話說，梅德韋傑夫的講話顯然提及了伊朗。兩國同意對全球彈道導彈能力聯合進行一次威脅評估。

美國首席軍控談判代表羅絲•高特莫勒(Rose Gottemoeller)說，俄羅斯希望達成一份關於武器裁減的一般性聲明，而不是制定武器數量目標。她說，就武器數量達成一致是一個漫長而痛苦的過程。

奧巴馬還獲得了俄羅斯的同意，允許美軍運輸 經過俄羅斯領空向阿富汗運輸“致命性”作戰物資，以每年4,500架次爲限；這一協議使得美國每年可以節省1.33億美元的燃料和其他成本。美國和俄羅斯同意恢復兩國軍方自2008年8月俄羅斯與格魯吉亞戰爭後一直中斷的合作。

俄羅斯也獲得了奧巴馬的保證，未來的談判中將把進攻性和防禦性武器系統放在一起考慮。美國在這個可能是雙方最大的分歧點上作出了重要讓步。此前，儘管俄羅斯表示強烈反對，美國還是計劃在波蘭和捷克部署導彈防禦系統。但白宮的俄羅斯事務高級主管麥克法爾(Michael McFaul)強調，美國政府沒有放棄在東歐的“第三地點”。

更爲重要的是，梅德韋傑夫藉助核武器談判將俄羅斯重新帶回到了世界舞臺，並藉此試圖宣佈國際關係重回兩級狀態。他表示，俄、美兩國之間的合作對世界發展非常重要。