普京和特朗普分別呼籲加強核能力
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump yesterday called for the strengthening of their countries’ nuclear capabilities.
弗拉基米爾.普京(Vladimir Putin)和唐納德.特朗普(Donald Trump)昨日分別就加強本國的核能力發出呼籲。
Speaking at a meeting of defence chiefs in Moscow, the Russian president said that Russia needed to “strengthen the strategic nuclear forces; for that we should develop missiles capable of penetrating any current and prospective missile defence systems”.
普京在俄國防參謀長會議上發表講話時表示，俄羅斯需要“加強戰略核力量；爲此，我們應研製能夠穿透任何當前和未來導彈防禦系統的導彈”。
Mr Putin claimed that Russia’s military was able to repel any possible threat to the country. Russia was now “stronger than any potential aggressor”, according to Russia’s Tass news agency.
普京稱，俄軍有能力擊退國家可能面臨的任何威脅。俄塔社報道，普京表示，俄羅斯如今“比任何潛在的侵略者都強大”。
A few hours after Mr Putin spoke, Donald Trump, US president-elect, tweeted that the US needed to expand its nuclear capabilities. “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes,” he wrote.
普京發表此番講話幾個小時後，美國當選總統特朗普在Twitter上表示，美國需要擴大其核能力。“在世界在覈武問題上清醒過來之前，美國必須大力加強並擴大其核能力，”他寫道。
The Trump transition team did not respond immediately to questions about whether Mr Trump was referring to the current US nuclear modernisation programme, which will not result in an increase in the number of warheads in the nuclear arsenal.
特朗普的過渡團隊沒有立即迴應關於特朗普是否指的是美國當前的核現代化計劃，該計劃不會增加美國核武庫中核彈頭的數量。
The Trump transition website contains a statement that his incoming administration “recognises the uniquely catastrophic threats posed by nuclear weapons and cyber attacks” and that Mr Trump would “ensure our strategic nuclear triad is modernised to ensure it continues to be an effective deterrent”.
特朗普過渡團隊網站上的一則聲明稱，特朗普領導的下屆政府“認識到核武器和網絡攻擊帶來的獨特災難性威脅”，而特朗普將“確保我國的戰略核三位一體得到現代化，以保證其繼續構成有效威懾”。
Mr Trump on Wednesday met Pentagon officials to discuss the defence budgets and priorities.
特朗普週三會晤了五角大樓(Pentagon)官員，討論國防預算和工作重點。
Mr Putin’s comments follow the most intense nuclear posturing by Moscow since the end of the Soviet Union.
普京作出此番評論之前，莫斯科方面採取了自蘇聯解體以來強度最大的核武姿態。
Russia has cancelled three nuclear deals with the US, while Russian state television recently warned that Washington was about to start a war, comparing tension over Syria with the Cuban missile crisis.
俄羅斯終止了與美國達成的3項核協議，而俄羅斯官方電視臺最近警告，華盛頓方面即將發動戰爭，並將圍繞敘利亞的緊張局勢比作古巴導彈危機。
Some analysts saw Moscow’s nuclear posturing as an attempt at intimidating the incoming Trump administration, as well as bolstering Mr Putin ahead of elections in 2018. Despite huge spending on military modernisation in recent years, Russia’s conventional forces remain a fraction of the size of Nato’s. But its nuclear arsenal is on a par with America’s — though both are far smaller than at the height of the cold war — allowing it to level the playing field.
一些分析人士將莫斯科的核武姿態視爲試圖恐嚇即將上臺的特朗普政府，同時也爲了在2018年大選前提升普京的支持率。雖然俄羅斯近年來在軍事現代化上投入巨資，但其常規部隊仍只有北約(Nato)部隊規模的一小部分。但可以與美國一較高下的俄羅斯核武庫——儘管兩國的核武庫都遠不及冷戰高峯時期的規模——將兩國拉回到了同一起跑線。
Russia’s armed forces have been deployed in Mr Putin’s stand-off with the west over Syria and Ukraine. In 2014, they took the Crimean peninsula and last week helped Syrian government forces retake Aleppo, a key flashpoint in the country’s five-year civil war.
在普京因敘利亞和烏克蘭問題與西方對峙的過程中，俄羅斯都投入了武裝部隊。2014年，俄軍佔領了克里米亞半島，上週他們幫助敘利亞政府軍奪回了阿勒頗——敘利亞5年內戰中各方爭奪的關鍵城市。
In Syria, Russian armed forces have killed 35,000 rebel fighters and destroyed 725 training camps since Moscow intervened on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime last year, according to Sergei Shoigu, Russian defence minister. Moscow had carried out 18,800 sorties and 71,000 strikes in Syria, Mr Shoigu added.
俄國防部長謝爾蓋.紹伊古(Sergei Shoigu)表示，自莫斯科爲了支持敘利亞總統巴沙爾.阿薩德(Bashar al-Assad)政權而介入該國內戰以來，俄軍部隊消滅了3.5萬名叛軍作戰人員，摧毀了725座訓練營。紹伊古還稱，莫斯科出動戰機1.88萬架次，在敘境內進行了7.1萬次空襲。
The military has used 162 different weapons systems in the conflict, which has served as a showcase for much of the new equipment developed under Mr Putin’s modernisation drive.
俄軍還在敘利亞使用了162種不同的武器系統，敘內戰已成爲在普京的軍事現代化努力下研發的多種新式裝備的展示場。
Mr Shoigu also said Russia would produce five new strategic bombers and add three new units to Russia’s nuclear forces.
紹伊古還表示，俄羅斯將生產5架新型戰略轟炸機，並增設3支核作戰部隊。
