普京:俄罗斯不会引渡"自由人"斯诺登

Russia considers the former US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden a free man and will not extradite him despite Washington charging him with spying, President Vladimir Putin said yesterday, a move likely to deepen a diplomatic row dispute.

俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔•普京(Vladimir Putin)昨日称，俄罗斯认为美国前情报分析员爱德华•斯诺登(Edward Snowden)是个自由人，尽管美国指控他犯有间谍罪，但俄罗斯不会引渡他。此言很可能加深外交纠纷。

Mr Putin told a press conference in Finland that Mr Snowden was still in the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport after arriving there from Hong Kong on Sunday.

普京在芬兰举行的新闻发布会上表示，周日从香港抵达莫斯科的斯诺登，仍然滞留在莫斯科谢列梅捷沃机场的转机区域。

“Mr Snowden is a free man,” Mr Putin said. “The sooner he selects his final destination point, the better both for us and for himself.”

“斯诺登是一个自由的人，”普京表示，“他越快选择最终目的地，对我们和他自己就越好。”

Russia and the US do not have an extradition treaty and so Moscow would not meet Washington’s request to return the former analyst to America.

俄罗斯和美国未签署引渡条约，因此俄罗斯政府将不会应美方要求，将这位前情报分析员遣返回美国。

“We can only hand over foreign citizens to countries with which we have an appropriate international agreement on the extradition of criminals,” the president said.

普京称：“我们只会将外国公民移交给那些与我们签订了引渡罪犯双边协议的国家。”

Russian agents had never worked with Mr Snowden, Mr Putin said, adding that he hoped the case, which has stirred a diplomatic dispute in recent days, would not affect relations with Washington, even though he described Washington’s criticism of Moscow for Mr Snowden’s evasion of arrest as “ravings and rubbish”.

普京称，俄罗斯情报人员从未与斯诺登合作，并表示，希望近日引发外交纠纷的斯诺登一案不会影响俄美关系，即便他形容美国在斯诺登逃避逮捕一事上对俄罗斯的批评是“没有意义的胡言乱语”。

Mr Putin’s comments came after Sergei Lavrov, Russian foreign minister, defended his country’s conduct in the affair.

之前，俄罗斯外长谢尔盖•拉夫罗夫(Sergei Lavrov)为本国在此事件上的行为做出辩护。

“We consider the attempts to accuse the Russian side of violating US laws, and practically of involvement in a plot, to be absolutely groundless and unacceptable,” said Mr Lavrov, speaking at a joint news conference with Algeria’s foreign minister in Moscow.

拉夫罗夫在莫斯科与阿尔及利亚外长联合举行的新闻发布会上表示：“我们认为指控俄方违反美国法律、而且实际上指控俄方参与一个阴谋的企图是没有根据、不可接受的。”

He added: “There are no legal grounds for such conduct of US officials.”

他补充道：“美国官员的此类行为缺乏法律依据。”

Beijing was equally scathing of the US. “The United States’ criticism of China’s central government is baseless. China absolutely cannot accept it,” Hua Chunying, a foreign ministry spokeswoman, said in Beijing yesterday. She has also rejected US criticism of Hong Kong, a Chinese territory, for letting Mr Snowden leave.

中国政府同样对美国态度尖锐。外交部女发言人华春莹昨日在北京表示：“美方对中国中央政府的指责缺乏依据，中方对此不能接受。”她还驳斥了美国对中国特别行政区香港允许斯诺登离境的批评。

Washington on Monday criticised both Moscow and Beijing for allowing Mr Snowden to evade arrest.

周一，美国政府指责中俄两国放任斯诺登逃避逮捕。

John Kerry, the US secretary of state, toned down the rhetoric yesterday, calling for “calm and reasonableness” from Russia.

美国国务卿约翰•克里(John Kerry)昨日放缓语气，呼吁俄罗斯方面展现出“冷静与合理”。

“We would hope that Russia would not side with someone who is a fugitive from justice,” Mr Kerry said at a news conference in Saudi Arabia.

克里在沙特阿拉伯举行的新闻发布会上表示：“我们希望俄罗斯不会支持一个逃避司法正义的人。”

In his comments yesterday, Mr Putin also suggested that Moscow sympathised with Mr Snowden from a civil rights perspective, drawing comparisons with Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks.

普京在昨天发表的评论中还暗示，俄方从公民权利的角度同情斯诺登，并且将他与维基解密(WikiLeaks)创始人朱利安•阿桑奇(Julian Assange)相提并论。

Mr Snowden has not been seen since he arrived at Moscow on Sunday afternoon on a flight from Hong Kong.

自周日下午乘机从香港抵达莫斯科以来，斯诺登一直没有露面。

Washington has charged Mr Snowden with theft of government property, unauthorised communication of national defence information and wilful communication of classified communications intelligence. All the charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment.

美国政府指控斯诺登窃取政府财产，未经授权传播国家防务信息，故意透露机密情报。每项罪名最高可判处10年监禁。