VOA标准英语2008年-US Says Russia Violating Cease-Fire in Georgia

The United States is accusing Russia of trying to find excuses to keep thousands of troops in Georgia in violation¹ of a cease-fire Moscow signed last month with the former Soviet² republic. VOA Correspondent Meredith Buel reports from Washington.
　
A Russian soldier stands at a checkpoint at the village of Karaleti, 7 km northwest of Gori, Georgia, 09 Sep 2008

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, using unusually blunt language, says it is past time for Russia to withdraw most of its soldiers from Georgia's separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

"These guys are trying to, at every turn, trying to wiggle out of a commitment they made and that their president put his name to," he said. "We have seen it since August and it continues. They need to get out of Georgia and they need to stop finding excuses to do that."

Russian military forces continue to occupy Georgian territory weeks after last month's five-day war, despite a French-mediated cease-fire.

Since then Russia has recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, despite international condemnation³.

McCormack says the United States is concerned about Russia's decision to keep thousands of soldiers in both breakaway regions.

"I would note one quite concerning remark that has been attributed to the Russian government and to various officials, whether it was President [Dmitri] Medvedev or Foreign Minister [Sergey] Lavrov saying that they were going to keep 3,800 Russian troops, both in South Ossetia and Abkhazia - that of course would be a violation of the cease-fire that they signed in August," he said.

McCormack says Russia and the country's troops need to abide⁴ by their international commitments.

Georgia's August offensive to regain⁵ control of South Ossetia from Moscow-backed separatists prompted a massive retaliatory⁶ thrust by Russia into Georgian territory.

Russia argues it repelled⁷ Georgian troops to protect thousands of people who were granted Russian citizenship⁸ following the collapse⁹ of the Soviet Union.

1 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

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 condemnation   

n.谴责; 定罪

参考例句：

• There was widespread condemnation of the invasion. 那次侵略遭到了人们普遍的谴责。
• The jury's condemnation was a shock to the suspect. 陪审团宣告有罪使嫌疑犯大为震惊。

4 abide   

vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受

参考例句：

• You must abide by the results of your mistakes.你必须承担你的错误所造成的后果。
• If you join the club,you have to abide by its rules.如果你参加俱乐部，你就得遵守它的规章。

5 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

6 retaliatory   

adj.报复的

参考例句：

• The process can take years before the WTO approves retaliatory action. 在WTO通过此行动之前，这个程序恐怕要等上一阵子了。 来自互联网
• Retaliatory tariffs on China are tantamount to taxing ourselves as a punishment. 将惩罚性关税强加于中国相当于对我们自己实施课税惩罚。 来自互联网

7 repelled   

v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开

参考例句：

• They repelled the enemy. 他们击退了敌军。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The minister tremulously, but decidedly, repelled the old man's arm. 而丁梅斯代尔牧师却哆里哆嗦地断然推开了那老人的胳臂。 来自英汉文学 - 红字

8 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

9 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。