普京下令组建国民警卫队 Putin creates new National Guard to cement authority

Vladimir Putin is moving to cement his Caesar-like authority over Russia with plans for a new, several hundred thousand-strong National Guard that one analyst described as a “Praetorian Guard on steroids.”

俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔•普京(Vladimir Putin)正采取行动巩固其在国内凯撒式的权威。他计划组建一支新的兵力达数十万的国民警卫队，一位分析师将其称为“吃了兴奋剂的禁卫军”。

The creation of the National Guard, which was announced unexpectedly on Tuesday, marks a major shift in the structure of Russia’s domestic security forces at a time when the Kremlin is braced for rising social unrest amid economic woes. Interfax, a news agency, cited a source familiar with the matter as saying the new security force was likely to number 350,000-400,000.

俄罗斯出人意料地在周二宣布成立国民警卫队，这将标志着在经济陷入困境、克里姆林宫应对社会骚乱增加之际，俄罗斯国内安全部队结构发生重大变化。俄罗斯国际文传电讯社(Interfax)援引一位知情人士的话称，国民警卫队规模可能在35万至40万人之间。

At a meeting with his security chiefs on Tuesday, Mr Putin said that the new National Guard would “fight terrorism and organised crime”. An executive order that Mr Putin signed creating the body listed its functions as protecting the public order, countering terrorism and extremism, guarding government facilities and cargo, assisting with protection of borders, and controlling arms trade.

普京在周二与其安全官员开会时表示，新的国民警卫队将“打击恐怖主义和有组织犯罪”。普京签署的创建国民警卫队的行政命令列出了这支部队的职能：维护公共秩序、打击恐怖主义和极端主义、保护政府设施和物资，帮助保卫边境以及控制军火贸易。

But analysts say the National Guard — which would unify several different domestic security forces under a single command and bring them under the direct control of the president — seemed designed with an eye on domestic dissent.

但分析师表示，成立国民警卫队的目的似乎是镇压国内异议。国民警卫队将把国内几支不同的安全部队合并起来，由一个指挥部指挥，并受到普京的直接控制。

“There is no real reason for creating the National Guard out of the interior troops and other forces unless you have a serious worry about public unrest,” Mark Galeotti, an expert on the Russian security services at New York University, stated in a blog post.

纽约大学(New York University)研究俄罗斯安全部队的专家马克•加莱奥蒂(Mark Galeotti)在一篇博文中写道：“除非你特别担心公众骚乱，否则没有真正的理由在内务部和其他部队的基础上组建国民警卫队。”

Dmitry Oreshkin, a Russian political analyst, agreed, saying the creation of the new force showed that Mr Putin “is feeling growing concern about his personal safety as a result of the deteriorating situation for the elites”.

俄罗斯政治分析人士德米特里•奥列什金(Dmitry Oreshkin)对此表示赞同。他说，创建新的安全部队表明，“由于对精英们来说局势恶化，普京日益担心其个人安全”。

He added: “This is not the National Guard - it’s the Putin Guard, insomuch as no one other than him can command it.”

他补充称：“这不是国民警卫队，而是普京警卫队，因为除了他以外没有人能指挥得动。”

Dmitry Peskov, Mr Putin’s spokesman, told reporters the new National Guard would “of course” take part in suppressing unauthorised protests.

普京发言人德米特里•巴斯科夫(Dmitry Peskov)向记者们表示，新的国民警卫队“当然”会参与压制未经批准的抗议活动。

While the Russian president’s approval ratings have remained at over 80 per cent since the annexation of Crimea in March 2014. Still, there are signs of growing dissatisfaction among ordinary Russians after two years of recession.

尽管自2014年3月俄罗斯吞并克里米亚以来，普京的支持率一直保持在80%以上，但有迹象表明，在两年的经济衰退之后，普通老百姓越来越感到不满。

The proportion of Russians who think the country is moving in the right direction dipped below 50 per cent earlier this year for the first time in two years, according to Levada Centre, an independent pollster. Meanwhile, the number of labour protests in the country was up 40 per cent last year, according to research by the Centre for Economic and Political Reforms, a think-tank.

独立的民调机构列瓦达中心(Levada Centre)表示，今年早些时候，认为国家在正确方向上前进的俄罗斯人的比例跌至50%以下，这是两年来的首次。与此同时，智库“经济和政治改革”(Economic and Political Reforms)的研究显示，去年俄罗斯劳工抗议活动数量上升了40%。