Russia and the West go into the third round of talks over the fate of Ukraine

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Russia and the West go into the third round of talks over the fate of Ukraine

Transcript¹

A deep divide remains² between Russia and NATO over Ukraine. There is hope that the third and final round of talks will bring a breakthrough.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Russia and NATO go into the third and final leg of a diplomatic triathlon today. It's part of a series of talks this week over the fate of Ukraine. The first two rounds produced no agreements that would lead Russia to stand down the 100,000 troops it has massed near its border with Ukraine. One of the big issues has been Russia's demand that Ukraine never be admitted into the Western alliance. NATO said yesterday it would not agree to that. NPR's Charles Maynes is following the developments and joins us on the line from Moscow. Hey, Charles.

CHARLES MAYNES, BYLINE³: Good morning.

MARTIN: So big talks. Every time another day of negotiations⁴ ends, I feel like officials come out and say, yeah, no, nothing - nothing here. Why?

MAYNES: Well, you know, the two sides really seem to be talking past one another. The West wants Russia to de-escalate its forces near Ukraine, fearing of an invasion, as you mentioned. Russia, clearly using the threat of force while professing⁵ not to, is demanding that Ukraine be barred from NATO membership and, as well, that the alliance roll back its presence in Eastern Europe entirely⁶. The U.S. and its allies clearly see those Russian demands as nonstarters. Ukraine may or may not become a member of NATO, they say, but it's not up to Russia to decide. And they're still warning of massive sanctions and adding forces to the region should Russia pursue aggression⁷.

Meanwhile, after yesterday's talks, Russia's chief negotiator, Alexander Grushko, vowed⁸ that if it did come to that, Moscow would hit back.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ALEXANDER GRUSHKO: (Speaking Russian).

MAYNES: So Grushko says that if NATO chooses a policy of trying to contain Russia, Russia will respond with countermeasures, and if they try to intimidate⁹ Russia, Russia will intimidate back.

MARTIN: That doesn't sound good. I mean, so now the stakes are pretty high for this third and final round of talks, no?

MAYNES: They are, and yet there's not much expected to come out of it. This is in a bigger venue¹⁰. This is the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It's got 57 members. Interesting it also includes Ukraine, which for the first time will be present in all of these discussions about its future. But Russians have really signaled they see the U.S. as the key decision-maker here. They seem to prefer the optics of the old Cold War superpower format¹¹ of bilateral¹² talks.

MARTIN: How closely are Russians following all this?

MAYNES: Well, you know, they're following it in the sense that Ukraine is constantly in the news. It's usually portrayed¹³ as this dysfunctional place with nationalists run amok. There's certainly a lot of talk here about how disruptive the new sanctions might be, and there's concern over the possibility of conflict with NATO. A recent poll came out that found over 50% of Russians were worried about the outbreak of a world war. That said, frankly¹⁴, there's a lot of coverage¹⁵ that's been devoted¹⁶ to other issues - for example, what's happening in neighboring Kazakhstan. This is where Russia deployed¹⁷ troops as part of this regional security force last week to quell¹⁸ protests.

MARTIN: Right. So let's talk about that. The government there in Kazakhstan claimed that protesters were trying to mount a coup¹⁹. They called in Russia for help. What's the situation?

MAYNES: Yeah. You know, the Russian-led troops began their formal withdrawal²⁰ this morning in a ceremony in Almaty.

(SOUNDBITE OF MARCHING BAND FANFARE)

MAYNES: And so as what you're hearing suggests, the Russian-led mission has been portrayed as a great success here - you know, Moscow coming to its neighbor's aid and preventing what both the Kremlin and the authorities in Kazakhstan now say was an attempt by foreign-backed terrorists to overthrow²¹ the government. Russian commentators²² have suggested this was if not Western backed then at least tacitly Western approved, an effort to destabilize Kazakhstan. And going forward, Russian President Vladimir Putin says this Russian-led security force is really ready to defend other former Soviet²³ states from Western-backed coups²⁴.

MARTIN: So does all this empower Putin in this moment?

MAYNES: Well, it does in the sense that this operation projects on to Russia's negotiations with the West over Ukraine. It signals that Russia is ready to defend its sphere of influence. And, you know, the fact is, Russia's been pressing its demands with NATO so publicly that it's hard to see how Putin can sell any compromise as a win at home. And that's really still the fear here, that these diplomatic initiatives we've seen all this past week were not, in fact, a good faith effort but just designed to fail in order to justify²⁵ force.

MARTIN: NPR Moscow correspondent Charles Maynes. Thank you.

MAYNES: Thank you.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

5 professing   

声称( profess的现在分词 )； 宣称； 公开表明； 信奉

参考例句：

• But( which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. 只要有善行。这才与自称是敬神的女人相宜。
• Professing Christianity, he had little compassion in his make-up. 他号称信奉基督教，却没有什么慈悲心肠。

6 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

7 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

8 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

9 intimidate   

vt.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• You think you can intimidate people into doing what you want?你以为你可以威胁别人做任何事？
• The first strike capacity is intended mainly to intimidate adversary.第一次攻击的武力主要是用来吓阻敌方的。

10 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

11 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

12 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

13 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

15 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

16 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

17 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

18 quell   

v.压制，平息，减轻

参考例句：

• Soldiers were sent in to quell the riots.士兵们被派去平息骚乱。
• The armed force had to be called out to quell violence.不得不出动军队来镇压暴力行动。

19 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

20 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。

21 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

22 commentators   

n.评论员( commentator的名词复数 )；时事评论员；注释者；实况广播员

参考例句：

• Sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 体育解说员翻来覆去说着同样的词语，真叫人腻烦。
• Television sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 电视体育解说员说来说去就是那么几句话，令人厌烦。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 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。

24 coups   

n.意外而成功的行动( coup的名词复数 )；政变；努力办到难办的事

参考例句：

• China has seen many political coups within the ruling class. 中国统治阶级内部发生过很多政变。 来自互联网
• Thailand has had eighteen coups or coup attendance since nineteen thirty-two. 泰国1932年以来有18次政变或参加政变。 来自互联网

25 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？